Silhouette
by Lil' Ms. I-Like-Girls
Summary: In the hopes of finding change and leaving her troubles behind her, Bella heads for Forks, Wa. It hadn't even entered in the realm of possibility that she would find not only love but a family she never thought she'd have.
1. Change

**New story! Hopefully this one won't crash and burn miserably like my other Twilight one. Ooh such encouraging words I know. ;) **

**Anyways I've had this idea swimming around in my head for a month now and like most things and annoying people, it wouldn't leave me alone. So this is what I came up with. No idea where it may go but I hope you enjoy the ride as I figure it out.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>God! How many toys does this kid need? Seriously. <em>

I grunt as I tug again at the lavender suitcase that I swear weighed more now than it did when we left the airport back in Phoenix. The damned thing was lodged snuggly in the overhead compartment and refused to budge. I pulled again a little harder, this time planting my feet solidly to get a better hold and gripping the handle with both hands and forcing my weight back in an attempt to pry it loose that way.

But no go. After the fourth yank, and another frustrated complaint from one of the passengers behind me, I gave up and took my seat so the other whiny bodies in the aisle could get by. Slouching back in my seat, I sighed and ran my fingers through my dark hair tiredly, my cheek resting heavily in my other hand on the arm rest. My nerves were already frayed beyond repair. Any amount of soothing on my part would have just been pointless. I needed a cigarette. Like now.

After I was satisfied that pretty much all the passengers were off the plane, I shook my head in a vain attempt to dislodge my exhaustion from my mind and body and bent over to retrieve - what used to be - my white backpack and the small pink backpack with Miss Piggy's face printed on the front pocket.

"Excuse me, Miss?" I jumped in my seat at the sound of someone beside me.

An attractive, well built man with short dark hair greeted my vision. His eyes were a startling shade of gold, though they were filled with a warmth that stunned me for a moment. It took me a second longer to realize that he had said something.

"Sorry if I startled you." He said, looking a little guilty.

I smiled at him and shook my head. "Oh no. You're fine. I'm kinda all over the place today."

He smiled and nodded in understanding. "I was wondering if you needed help getting your stuff from the compartment."

I felt my shoulder muscles unclench slightly in relief at the offer. I smiled genuinely at him, the first real one in days and nodded. "That would be awesome. Thank you."

He smiled and backed up to retrieve the stupid luggage and with one swift pull, it was free and lowered to the ground. Um…thank you large man. I frowned at how easy he made that look. I seriously need to start working out.

Shaking my head, I stood up and got to work unbuckling the car seat next to me. The slumbering child wasn't showing any signs of opening her eyes and I hesitated to wake her up. Damn it. I couldn't bring myself to wake her but if I didn't, I would end up having to carry her, the car seat, my bag and hers, as well as wheel the lavender suitcase off the plane. I hope that a cart is close by. I don't think I can carry all of our stuff plus the adorable dead weight in my arms and still have time to grow another arm so I can wheel my suitcase once we got to baggage claim. Lord Bella. I think you bit off more than you can chew. And mom even said she would mail the rest, but then again, the poor woman - with tears in her eyes - insisted on packing the purple suitcase, saying it was only right since both her babies were leaving her. Last time I let her help me pack when I was only running on two hours of sleep prior. I would have agreed to anything at that point.

I sighed and gently maneuvered the little girl into the seat I had been sitting in previously so I could get the car seat out and place that on the ground. Smiling, I shook my head as she curled her body into a little ball, softly snoring without a care in the world. I cooed as she made a small sound when I picked her up but I knew she wouldn't stir. Kid slept like a rock. As she should since she stayed up all night and played in her room like a stinker while I was dead to the world and blissfully so. Though I didn't care since I knew that she would most likely be restless on the plane and sleeping through the flight would have been the better alternative. For my sanity and the rest of the cabin.

"Um would you like me to grab that for you?" A voice spoke politely.

Huh?

I was surprised to find the guy still there, though now that I was standing I could finally get a good look at him. This guy was huge. Nuff said.

He gestured to the car seat in my hand and I understood what he was getting at.

"Oh you don't have to do that. I'm just grateful that you got that offensive purple nightmare out of there before I could break something, and by something, I mean my back."

He chuckled. "I don't mind, really. If it's cool with you, that is. I promise I won't bolt with your stuff." He grinned. I laughed softly and handed him the kid seat. "As masculating as they are, I don't think purple's really my color."

I cupped my mouth with my newly available hand, holding in my laughter so the sound wouldn't jostle the girl in my arms. I didn't know who this dude was but I liked him. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to help me out so who was I to refuse. I needed it. I could admit when I was wading. I didn't like to do it but boarding with this much crap was a stupid idea, lack of sleep or not, I should have known not to listen to my mother.

"Suit yourself." I responded.

He looked over his shoulder and grinned before making his way down the aisle. I adjusted the girl in my arms and followed him off the plane.

"Baggage claim is this way." He said once we made it out of the tunnel and away from the waiting area where the new passengers were standing in line to board the plane that I just stepped off of. My eyes scanned the area carefully and found myself frowning at my efforts. Not finding what I was looking for I turned my gaze back in front so as not to run into anyone by mistake. That's usually what happens. The man - I really should get his name - turned left and I followed him blindly. I had never been to Seattle airport before, so even though I could have easily followed the signs telling me where to go, it was nice having a guide.

"Thanks again for your help." I told him when he slowed his pace enough to walk beside me. I think he understood that even if I tried I wasn't going to hurry to make it to where we needed to be. Yes, the kid was knocked out and probably wouldn't greet the living unless you shoved a Hershey bar in front of her nose but that didn't mean I was okay with bouncing her around simply so we could get there faster.

He turned his head and smiled. "It's no trouble. It bothered me that no one was willing to help you, especially since you got a kid with you."

I held on a little tighter at the mention of the sweet girl in my arms and smiled down at her.

"Well that's assholes for ya." I said, looking up at him.

He laughed loudly but quieted as soon as he saw the three year old flinch in my arms at the sound.

"Sorry." He winced.

I smiled. "It's fine. She won't wake up, trust me."

"I'm Emmett by the way." He said a little more softly this time, flashing me a perfect smile.

"Bella."

"It's nice to meet you, Bella."

"You as well."

"So," He drawled as we began descending the long escalator. "What brings you to Seattle?"

Well, that was a big question. "Change, I guess." I shrugged as I looked away from him and laid a gentle kiss on the sleeping girl's forehead. "I have family in Forks."

His ears seemed to perk up at the last bit of information.

"Forks." He stated.

I nodded. "Yup. Haven't been in years so God knows what I'm getting myself into once I get there." I said, chuckling a little to lessen the heavy admission.

"S'not so bad." He shrugged. "Once you get passed the constant rain and the perpetual gray sky its kinda purdy. Well, in a depressing sort of way."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"Talking from experience?"

His grin widened. "I live there so yeah."

My jaw fell open. "Oh." What are the odds? "Small world."

He smiled slowly. "Yeah. Small world."

When we made it to baggage claim the conveyer belt was already spitting out luggage and delivering them to their owner. Emmett asked what the suitcase looked like and once I listed the characteristics he made a beeline through the crowd. Man he was a sweet guy.

Spotting a row of chairs near me, I went to sit down, after placing the little girl comfortably on my lap; I dug out my phone from my bag. I needed to dial Charlie. He told me he would be waiting outside the gate for me but I never saw him and after the third ring I was beginning to panic.

_Please don't do this to me Charlie._

...But the call went straight to voicemail. _Fuck_. I called his cell again but I got the same result. _Double fuck._ I scrolled through my contacts to find his home number and pressed - **[CALL]**.

I felt my heart sink a little more at each ring. This cannot be happening.

"…_This is Charlie Swan. Um I'm sorry but I can't come t-" _

"Son of a-"

"Bad news I take it." Emmett was back, car seat held awkwardly under his arm while both hands held one of the suitcases. Setting my phone in the little lap I held in my arm, my hand made the instinctual motion of running itself through my hair. My mom said I usually did this more when I was frustrated or tired, though, I never noticed until now how right she was. My hair probably looks like a mysterious creature lives in there at this rate. Oh well. I find myself too tired to care.

"I think my ride bailed on me. I'm trying to reach him but I keep getting his damn answering machine."

Emmett frowned, his head turning from side to side as if in search of something. "Was he supposed to meet you somewhere?"

I nodded and gestured with my hand lazily. "The gate." I told him. "But I never saw him."

"Do you want to go back and check?" He asked.

I shook my head. Truthfully, I wasn't really surprised that Charlie was a no show. A part of me was kind of expecting it. But I dared to hope that he wouldn't leave his kin stranded in a strange airport with no way of getting out of there.

"Wouldn't do any good."

Emmett's frown deepened. He looked like he wanted to say something but was stopped by the ever catchy lyrics of Madonna. My brow quirked.

"_Living in a material world and I am a material girl. You know that we are living in a material world and I am a material girl-" _

I looked at him amusedly as he fumbled with the stuff in his arms. Finally placing the seat on the floor he quickly dug in the inside of his jacket pocket and pulled out a sleek looking touch phone.

"Yeah." He answered. I looked away from the man, giving him his privacy, as he continued his conversation with the person on the other line. Though, I didn't mind. I was more than content as my fingers wove themselves softly through small, chestnut curls. This was her favorite way to fall asleep and it was also a wonderful method to put her back to sleep and keep her there.

"Are you sure though?" He asked hopefully his frown slowly melting as one corner of his mouth curled higher and higher.

Whoever was on the other line was obviously giving him some great news. I gave him a soft, silent smile as I couldn't help but notice the excited tone in his voice. I was happy at least someone's day was going right.

"Thanks for the heads up munchkin. See ya in a bit." He put his phone away and beamed at me.

"What?"

"So would you be opposed to carpooling with me back to Forks? I know we just met but if it makes you uncomfortable or whatever you can drive."

I stared at him, my brow creasing slightly. "Why are you doing all this? I-I mean, not that I'm not grateful," I added quickly once he began frowning again. Way to go Bella. "But you don't even know me."

He shrugged. "Neighborly thing to do I guess."

I eyed him skeptically. Though I was obviously out of shape, I had taken self defense classes a year ago so if he did try anything I could still break his nose and hopefully push him out of the car before the situation escalated.

"I promise to behave. " He said with a smile though his eyes held such raw sincerity that was hard to miss. As insane as accepting his offer was, since I didn't know him, my gut was telling me that he wouldn't hurt me or the precious girl in my arms. I finally nodded.

"Okay." Because seriously. What choice did I have?

He grinned and picked up our luggage.

"Did you want to sit for a bit, maybe rest or get something to eat before we head out?" I smiled at his thoughtfulness but shook my head.

"We're fine. But thanks for asking."

"Of course, meh lady." He winked.

I chuckled and stood. I followed him out of the airport and to the parking lot. He stopped by a large white jeep and began loading everything in the back. I walked over to the other side and laid the three year old on the seats so I could fasten the car seat securely. After everything seemed in order I buckled her in and closed the door. I really hope I wasn't about to make another stupid decision by accepting this guy's offer. With that worrying thought in mind I climbed into the passenger seat and buckled in. Emmett looked surprised as he got into the driver's side.

"What?"

"I'm just surprised you wouldn't prefer driving."

"There's a lot of surprising things happening this morning. And -" I hesitated to tell him my next thought but my need to be honest with people won out. "For some _strange_ reason," Emphasis on the strange. "I trust you. I don't know why but I do."

He smiled widely. "I promise," He said, giving a firm nod. "You have nothing to worry about. I'm a perfect gentleman when I'm not playing video games."

I giggled but nodded. "I guess we'll just see about that."

_Please let him be telling the truth._

We drove in silence for almost an hour as Emmett maneuvered us out of the hellish Seattle traffic. Though, I was only half surprised that the silence wasn't stifling and was kind of nice. It was nice being able to be in the company of someone without the expectation of words to feel comfortable. Very rarely do you find someone you can enjoy that with. But the fact that we didn't know a single thing about each other - besides our names and the mutual destination that we were headed for - probably played a big factor in that. But whatever.

"So what brought you to Phoenix, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked. I didn't think he would since he pretty much asked me the same thing about why I was in Washington. He seemed like a pretty open guy either way.

He stared at the road ahead but didn't answer right away. "An errand." He said. "There was something very important that I needed to keep safe."

My brows knitted together at that. Well that's incredibly vague. I shrugged.

"And did you get your important thing?"

The corner of his lips quirked up. "As far as I know. But I didn't do it for me."

"Who'd you do it for then?"

God. Nosy much?

He thought about his answer for a moment before saying, "My family." He glanced in the rearview for a moment before adjusting his focus ahead.

Accepting his answer I shrugged and leaned more fully against the ultra comfy back rest. Breathing a sigh before I could stop myself, I found my lids steadily growing heavier and heavier, until all I could see was the dark red of the back of my eyelids and then darkness. After what only felt like minutes I soon found myself being gently roused from an interesting dream. A dream that featured golden eyes and pale skin.

"Bella. Hey Bella, we're here."

I sat up in my seat a little. "What?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Welcome to Forks." Emmett said cheerfully. I scoffed. Like there would ever be anything cheerful about Forks. I mean…just look at it!

The dark gray sky seemed to hang low and heavy as it smothered the green landscape. I think the last time I was here I was maybe nine and it's just as gloomy as it was then. I guess things never change.

It's like the perfect location for the most depressing movie ever made. No. Seriously. What the hell am I doing here?

"This place is like Eeyore's wet dream." I muttered under my breath. I winced as soon as the words left my mouth. Emmett chuckled and I looked sheepishly at him.

_Why do you have to be an ass? He lives here remember._

"Sorry. That came out wrong."

He shook his head but I was surprised at how amused he looked, not insulted in the slightest. "No. That was actually pretty accurate."

I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted to do was offend this guy after all he did for us.

I gave him directions to Charlie's house and once he turned onto the street and the small white house came into view I turned around in my seat.

"Sweetheart. Wake up." I squeezed her thigh until her brow began to crease.

Blinking tiredly, she lifted her head up curiously. Emmett parked the Jeep and whispered that he would get our stuff from the back and put it on the porch while I dealt with the little one. I smiled my thanks. Her eyelids began to droop and I shook my head at the adorable sight.

"We're here baby girl." I shook her foot gently. After the many hours that she's been asleep she should be more receptive. Her features turned down in a frown.

"Her?" She mumbled sleepily.

I smiled at the adorable girl as she rubbed her eye with her little fist. "Yes baby. We're here. But you gotta wake up okay?"

She yawned and gave a little nod. I turned to Emmett as he opened my door offering me his hand like a true gentleman. I smiled. "Thanks again for your help. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't met you."

"Then try not to think about it." He said with a quirk of his lips. "Now get outta here. I'll see ya around most likely."

"Good. Because I need to find some way to thank you."

"No need. It comes with the job description of being awesome to help such lovely damsels in distress." He winked. I rolled my eyes but smiled as I got out of the Jeep. He stepped aside to let me by. I opened the door and got the little one and the car seat out. Emmett took the car seat from my hands and walked with us to the porch. He set that down on the bottom step and turned to me.

"Well, I guess I better get going."

I nodded and gave a small wave. "Thanks again. It was nice meeting you Emmett.

"You too Bella. Take care munchkin." He smiled down at the little girl by my feet.

The three year old tilted her head to the side as she considered him.

He laughed at her expression. "Bye Bella."

"See ya Emmett."

I watched as the Jeep pulled away. I felt a tug on the hem of my jacket and looked down.

"Who Emmy?"

"A friend. He helped us."

"Oh."

"Come on. Let's go say hi to Charlie." I held her little hand in mine as we climbed the high stone steps.

I took a deep breath…and then pressed a shaky finger against the well worn door bell.

_I'm going to kill you Charlie._

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><p><strong>I hope that didn't feel rushed. I was more excited about having this down on Word and eager to post it. *shrug* <em><br>_**

**Next Chapter: Charlie gets a verbal bitch slapping from Bella. And Bella enrolls in school buuuut apparently the surprises aren't over just yet when she gets a rather interesting welcome. **

**Thank for reading! R&R if you have the time and tell me what you think. Let me know if you think I should continue.**

**Later gators! XD**


	2. Precious Things

**So I'm such a stinker because I promised ChedderCheeseLover21 this days ago so I'm dreadfully sorry my dear. ;) Please accept my sincerest apologies yada yada yada forgive me already! D'X**

**Thank you to all that commented, Favorited, Alerted and simply read my story and liked it. It all means a great deal. So it seems that you guys want me to continue so that's just what I'll do. :)**

**Now someone was concerned that I was going to make Charlie into a bad guy, which is not the case at all. I've a similar situation happen to me when I flew into an airport. I wasn't exactly forgotten about but there was a lack of clear communication between both parties and was made difficult by the guy that was picking me up lied about where he was going to be because he was late. So no, that doesn't necessarily make him a bad guy but it does make him human. And humans make mistakes. Making mistakes doesn't make you a villain or a bad person but sometimes people fuck up and they need to be reminded that what they did was wrong or given a good bonk on the forehead or...whatever. So again, I say, no, Charlie isn't the bad guy here. I happen to love Charlie. He's just a little scatter brained in my story. ;)**

**As a side note: My Rosalie will be played by Dianna Agron. I thought she would make a perfect Rosalie so yeah. Keep that in mind if you can.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Bella's POV:<strong>

Mia clung to my leg as we waited outside. My fingers drummed anxiously as I took a look around in hopes of distracting myself as I waited for those unknown seconds to tick away.

Change sucks, I finally decided. Like, _really_ sucked. Especially if it looks like this place.

This is so not my ideal vacation spot but whatever.

"Bella?"

My head jerked around so fast I think I broke something. Ow. Yeah. Okay ow. Careful with the swiveling!

I rubbed my sore neck as I peered up at my estranged father.

"Hey…Charlie."

He offered me a soft smile and stepped to the side to let us in. Mia held tightly to my calf as we made our way into the warm house. I rubbed her scalp soothingly as we walked.

"You can put your coats anywhere."

"Thanks." I helped Mia out of her jacket. "Mee, go play in the other room while me and Charlie have a little chat, okay?"

"Kay!" We watched as she skipped into the other room but thankfully the doorless archway didn't keep her out of my sights.

I turned on him. "Why didn't you pick us up?" I asked bluntly.

"Uh well I –"

"I had to hitch a ride with a perfect stranger so that we could get here. Good thing it was one of the decent ones and not a total _psycho_." I tried to keep the anger out of my voice, really I did, but it was no use as it leaked out more and more at every word uttered.

He chewed on his lip. "I had asked a friend of mine to come pick you up. You remember Billy's kid, Ja –"

"I don't care about your excuses." I spat harshly, all my pent up energy beginning to burst out of my pores. I needed a run, a cigarette. _Something_. I sighed, noticing Charlie's distraught expression and shuffling feet, I softened my features and spoke with a much kinder disposition. "I just want to know why you didn't call if you couldn't make it. I honestly thought I was going to be _stuck_ there. That _we_ were going to be stuck there."

He flinched at the thought and had the decency to look ashamed.

A heavy silence hung between us as I stared him down, my eyes narrowing once he looked away from me. I wanted honesty in this conversation and it doesn't look like he was giving it to me. "I called your cell." he finally said.

My jaw clenched at the lie, my newly softened edges around this whole conversation began prickling again. "Um no you didn't Charlie. But I called yours…_twice_actually, and your house phone." I chuckled then, my tone completely devoid of warmth. "Imagine my utter surprise when I got your voicemail."

I knew it wasn't right. Taking my anger out on Charlie, I was already irritated to begin with; even before we landed on evergreen soil. I had been dreading this moment. What I would say, what I would do once I was alone in a room with him. I didn't want to have to talk to a father I barely knew and live with him for an extended amount of time. I didn't like being thrown out of my comfort zone. I didn't like cold, wet places. And I didn't like not knowing the man standing in front of me. Images, blurred faces swirled in the back of my brain but nothing was concrete. Nothing was substantial. And again I wonder what I was doing here. My only goal is to scrounge up enough money so Mia and I could find somewhere in the world for us. So I can find a home for her. Though I was grateful to Charlie - really I was. I doubt me being here is easy for him either but it doesn't change the fact that I would rather be somewhere else. Somewhere warm (preferably – in the literal sense and the metaphorical) and that was _ours_. Though I'm sure coming in here and laying on the guilt trip pretty heavily won't make my temporary stay here at all bearable for either of us. And I needed to make being here okay for Mia. She was the innocent in all of this. She doesn't know him, this place, these walls. She needs for me to feel like this place is safe and okay. She can't know that being in my old home terrified me and set my back teeth on edge. So …suck it up.

I closed my eyes. I decided then that arguing about this and poking and kicking the guilty man when he was down wasn't going to change how we all got to this point. It was done. Moving on. Rolling my shoulders back and popping the added stress from this whole ordeal out of my neck, I looked at him.

"Bells I'm really sorry about what ha –"

I held my hand up to stop his apology. God. You're such a dick Bella. The poor guy looks like he's gonna cry.

"I'm sorry about snapping at you like that. I didn't mean to act like I was going to _literally_ snap your neck without a moment's notice." I winced. "Sorry."

He chuckled, somewhat nervously and nodded. "I deserve it. I should have called or texted. I didn't even think of that, actually." His face falls. "I'm still getting used to this stupid touch phone that half the time I don't even bother. But for you, I will." He looks in my eyes honestly. "For you and Mia, I will." He adds passionately and I was immediately sold.

"That's all I ask." I said softly and gave him a small smile. He smiled back. "I better get Mia situated. She's probably freaking out and twirling in circles trying to figure out where she is."

She's an odd duck. But my odd duck.

"Probably right." He scratches the back of his neck "I'm…I'm glad that we could talk this out."

I smile softly. "Me too." I left the kitchen in search of Mia.

It took an hour to get fully situated. The bags, well Mia's bags anyway, were unpacked and put in the proper drawers and hung in the closet. I kinda just chucked my shit near my bed and figured I'd grab something when I needed it. Mia's stuff was structured but I didn't really care where my stuff went. Plus I was pretty beat and I still had a lot to do before tomorrow.

"Um Bella…will you come down here? There's something I wanna show ya."

"Yeah I'll be down in a sec." I hollered through the opened door of Mia's new room. Mia sent me a raised eyebrow that pretty much said, "Wonder what's that all about"

I shrugged and zipped up her jacket. I was planning on asking Charlie for a lift to the grocery store.

"What's up Charlie?"

"Follow me." He ordered softly. We walked outside.

He lead me out to what I'm assuming, and this is just a _wild_ guess, but what looked like a car. But of course there was a big question mark hanging over both Mia's and I's heads as we stared at the tarp covered mystery.

"What's going on Charlie?" I asked even though I had a pretty good idea.

"I got you something. Well I got you both something if you think about it." He smiled shyly and grabbed a hold of the fabric and unveiled the mystery in one quick woosh!

My eyes widened. Of course I knew it was a car but for some reason I wasn't expecting a fairly new car. Huh. Weird.

Stood before me was a black SUV. "I wanted you both to have something. I didn't want you to be stranded everywhere you went." I chuckled at that. "So this way you'll be able to get to school and take Mia around for joy rides or…whatever."

"What type of car is it?" I asked curiously. Mia's eyes sparkled as she walked around the car in circles.

"Well the guy at the dealership was going on and on about transmission and mileage and so on and so forth so the only thing I made sure to remember was the make. It's a 2007 GLS trim Hyundai Santa Fe SUV." He made a show of taking a deep breath and I giggled.

"Good thing for that." I joked. He grinned.

"It's won a bunch of awards or something." He said with a few scratches to the back of his head. "The guy said it was the Top Safety Pick for something or something and uh…oh God…I'm not selling this at all, am I?" He panicked.

At that moment I did something that surprised both of us. I hugged him. Like, _really_ hugged my father. I was so grateful and so happy that he would not only think about me, but buy a car that was geared for Mia too and that meant a hell of a lot. Mom didn't even buy us a car. Not that I was expecting one but knowing her, God bless her, I doubt she would have put much thought into what to get. She'd most likely pick the one that was really pretty and be done with it. So this meant everything. Don't cry damn you!

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He hugged back.

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><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

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><p>Charlie smiled as he watched Bella walk back into the house and shook his head at how surreal this all was. He still couldn't believe how much his own little girl wasn't so little anymore. She was a woman now. The thought of how much time had passed since he last saw her really hit home. He had missed so much. He had missed her.<p>

He promised himself then and there, that that wouldn't be the case with Mia. She deserved to have the people in her life be a constant fixture and by golly that's what he would be. If Bella would let him anyway.

Fifteen minutes later Charlie was handing Bella the keys to her new ride. She smiled and practically skipped to the vehicle. The car seat, to Bella's astonishment, was already hooked in, Charlie must have done that while Bella was still unpacking. Bella grinned and buckled Mia in.

The GPS, thankfully, was already programmed to show her where everything was. Bella inputted **[SHOPPING]** and found instantly where the super market was. She felt so techy!

Both girls perused the aisles for while, getting acquainted with where everything was. Bella was examining a package of 'Chicken in a Biskit' when an elderly woman with silver hair walked by and stopped right next to her cart.

"Well aren't you just the most precious thing." The older woman cooed as she bent down a little to smile at the girl in the plastic seat. Mia's eyebrow quirked at the unfamiliar woman and leant a little away from her.

"Thank you." Bella said hoping to draw her attention away from the little girl. Mia wasn't too huge on being so close to strangers. Which is a good thing, Bella would suppose, if that stranger turned out to not be the friendliest. But it did make things difficult when Bella needed a babysitter and Mia ended up playing 'I'll hide and you scream into a panic because you can't find me' all night long until Bella got home. It kinda took her awhile to get used to you.

"Is she yours?" The woman looked up at her.

_No I found her in the lost and found bin. _Bella thought sarcastically.

Bella swallowed what would have been her automatic response to a question like that and said, "No. She's my sister."

The woman looked shocked but she composed herself quickly.

"Oh well she looks just like you."

Bella's jaw clenched. "Yeah I get that a lot." Her cheeks burned.

"How old is she?"

"Three." Was Bella's answer.

"Well she's a beautiful girl."

Bella smiled politely. "Thank you."

The woman tilted her head. "Hmm and she has her mother's eyes." She said almost like she was remarking to herself or commenting on the weather. Bella's head jerked at the woman.

"What'd you say?"

But the woman didn't respond as she smiled again at the little girl in the cart and walked away without a backwards glance. Bella watched as she turned the corner into a different aisle. She shook her head of the weird incident and looked at Mia.

"She was odd huh Mimi?"

Mia nodded agreeing full heartedly. Bella smiled at the little girl's answer and picked up a package of sugar cookies, making a show of putting them in the cart. Mia's face brightened and she grinned widely.

"Thought you might like that. But I'm putting it on the _high_ shelf this time." Bella said, giving the girl a look.

Mia smiled impishly. The older brunette shook her head at the mischievous twinkle in those chocolate browns and pushed her cart forward.

"On second thought," Bella drawled. Mia's lips turned downwards. "Maybe I should hide them." Bella pretended to deliberate over this.

_Like in the attic._

Mia shook her head emphatically, not liking the idea at all. It was a horrible idea if you asked her. Which, of course, no one did.

It still surprised Bella how much this little girl understood. She was still so very young and yet she grasped the other end of their conversations easily. Which shocked and astounded most, if not all people. Bella simply got used to it. Well, until she shocked her with something else mind boggling for a child of her age. So Bella shrugged and went along with it as the days went by and the little girl before her got bigger and even cleverer.

_She's going to be a handful when she gets older. I just know it. My little troublemaker._

"You're going to be a stinker when you're a smelly old teenager, aren't you?"

Mia simply smiled. Bella figured that was a 'yes' and shook her head again and spoke to the sky.

"God help me."

Mia giggled and covered Bella's hand with her smaller one.

"I wuv you." They were still working on the 'l' sound.

Bella smiled warmly. "And I love you." She kissed her head and then her ear and nuzzled it with her nose, making the little girl shriek with laughter. Bella pulled back and narrowed her eyes playfully at her. "But you're still a stinker."

After a pass through the frozen food aisle later and a diva sized tantrum over getting ice cream and making the little girl understand that she already had sugar cookies and threatening her that she would get nothing if she kept this up and got any louder (which silenced her immediately - go figure), they were done shopping and were making their way over to the register.

"That'll be $116.47. Would you like to use a coupon?" Bella shook her head and pulled out the hundred that Charlie gave her to buy groceries and the difference from her own wallet. The young man took her money and went about getting her change while the man on the other side of her bagged her groceries.

"Glad that's done and over with." Bella mumbled as she finished unloading the last of the groceries into the cupboard. They had finally made it back to Charlie's, well their house now, and had only got turned around once since Bella was still getting used to the town's layout. "We got breakfast for tomorrow. We got daycare for you sorted out and all I have to do is get my schedule from the office tomorrow at school." Bella sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Yay. School." She groaned and slid down the wall. Mia crawled over to her and sat on her lap. The older brunette glanced down at the smaller one in her arms. "Things'll be better here Mimi. You'll see."

Mia nodded and snuggled deeper into Bella's arms.

Bella yawned. They sat there for a few minutes, seeking comfort and familiarity in each other's warmth. It had been a long day and the next day was sure to be longer.

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Bella's POV:<strong>

I think I fell out of bed but I can't be sure because I'm half dead...hey that rhymed. Cool. So yeah I beat the ever loving crap out of my new alarm clock and didn't stop smacking the thing until it clattered onto the floor. I yanked the cord out of the wall for good measure and calmly laid back down.

_Stupid school…_

…and with that thought seared in my brain for the rest of the morning and probably all the way through lunch and after - depending on how the day went - I set out on getting ready for the day.

I rifled through what little I brought with me and decided on my thin white v-neck shirt with the swirly black pattern on the front, my thin gray hoodie, and my slim fit jacket over it. I jumped into my torn dark skinnies with the little rips up my thigh and a hole in my right knee and my old chucks, which I'm hoping will last me till I could get some new ones. Hopefully they won't fall apart till then, given that it rains here so much. I wasn't used to the weather here in Forks and neither was my wardrobe. Everything I own was light wear and my warmer options consisted of either a hoodie or an old long sleeve shirt whose lower sleeves has seen better days because I constantly rolled them up when I got hot. I owned two pairs of jeans, both of which I brought with me, and the rest were shorts with variations of length. Though it pained me to say it, shopping was a must in the near future. Especially for little Mia. Thankfully, Mom bought her a huge puffy jacket - which makes her look like the cutest purple marshmallow ever! - and a few light jackets and long sleeves before we left. I was too stressed about leaving to have any foresight of what would be appropriate to wear once I got to Washington. Plus I was running low on funds so it's not like I would have been able to get a whole wardrobe. Maybe a shirt and a new pair of pants, possibly a pretty scarf and mitten combo. But everything else was for Mia.

Mom said she was in the process of mailing our stuff so that Mia would have the rest of her clothes, but given the fact that this is my mother we're talking about, who knew how long that would be.

I styled my hair no different than I usually do it, with a quick brush through and some leave in spray to make it not frizz. I threaded my fingers through it then shook it out a little to give it a little body but not make it seem chaotic. I put a little bit of eyeliner on and then brushed my teeth and then I was ready.

_Time to get little Ms. Cranky-Pants up. _I smiled at the fitting name and made my way into Mia's room. I flicked on the light.

"Hey Mimi time to get u- oh. You're up." The little girl looked at me excitedly like she usually did when she hadn't seen me in awhile. I walked over to the crib. "What's the matter baby? Couldn't sleep?"

The little girl shook her head. I frowned at this thinking it must be because we're in such a new environment and she's not used to it. I picked her up and set her on the changing table that Charlie had bought for us and changed her pull-up and her clothes. "Such a cute little marshmallow." I cooed, pinching her cheeks gently. Mia scrunched her face up adorably and gave her three year old version of a death glare, her cheeks puffed out and her lips pursed. I awed at her and picked her up, pecking her on the cheek, and earning me a smile.

_Yes!_

"Come on let's see what delicious things we can fill that tummy with." I gently poked her in the tummy and she giggled. "I was thinking waffles. What do you think?

Her eyes looked up as she thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"No? Well what about oatmeal?"

Mia looked like she wanted to gag and I rolled my eyes. So dramatic. She was like my mother.

God help me.

"What about a banana and cereal?"

Mia shrugged and leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder.

I smiled warmly as Mia snuggled into the crook of my neck. "I'll take that as a maybe." I chuckled as I carefully descended the stairs.

Mia ate like a little pig, like usual, and scarfed her banana in three bites. I swear that kid is going to choke one day, though she wouldn't listen to me when I told her so. Once I dropped her off at the daycare center, I finally found the right road to turn on to get to the school. It looked like I was the first one here. Thank God. There wasn't a car in sight other than mine and the ones in staff parking. I found a spot and parked. I slung my bag over my shoulder and got out. Getting my schedule was my first priority. I finally found the building I was looking for and zeroed in on it. Getting there was practically my mission in life. Way I see it the only thing I needed to worry about after that was not getting lost while I tried to find my classes and not tripping over air too much in the process. First impressions and all.

Opening one of the double doors that lead me to where I needed to be, I made my way up to the counter where a middle aged plump woman was sitting behind her paperwork. She hadn't even picked up her head so I'm guessing that she still hadn't realized I was there. I could have been a ravenous cougar and she wouldn't have been the wiser.

I stood at the counter for a good minute before I finally got impatient and cleared my throat. The poor woman jumped in her seat - _don't giggle! –_and shuffled the already meticulous stack of papers.

"Oh sorry. Hello. Was there something I could do for you?"

"Um yes. My name is Isabella Swan. I'm a new student here. I was told to come here and get my schedule."

"Oh!" She jumped into action – sort of –and grabbed a small packet of papers and handed them to me.

"This is for you," _No really?_ "You need to make sure each of your teachers signs this slip and then hand it back to me at the end of the day. Alrighty?"

_Alrighty._

I nodded and thanked her.

I was still the only one in the lot it seems once I left the office. I walked over to my car and got in, immediately cranking up the heat and sat back as I looked over my schedule. I had just finished memorizing my schedule when I noticed at the corner of my eye a white Jeep pull up at the spot two car spaces over from mine…

…no way.

My schedule lay forgotten in my lap as I turned all my attention to the driver of the Jeep.

No. Way.

I grabbed my schedule and mindlessly got out of the car.

No. _Fucking_. Way!

I smiled hugely as I watched a tall muscled figure jump out of the driver's side and land gracefully on the ground. A few seconds later a silver Volvo entered the parking lot and parked on the other side of the Jeep.

"Emmett?" I whispered. I hadn't even realized I had said it until said person was grinning in my direction.

His eyes lit up as he jogged over to me. I saw him and - without thinking - launched into his strong arms. He didn't seem to mind at all as he hugged me tightly but gently.

"Oh my God!"

"Hey Bells!" He twirled me around.

"Oh my God."

"You already said that." He chuckled.

"Yeah I know but…oh my God!"

"Its Emmett actually but close enough." He said as he put me back down. I chuckled, too astonished to really take into account how lame his jokes were.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I told you I lived here." He said like it was obvious information, which it was but- oh my _God!_ Shut up I was happy.

"Yeah I know but I can't believe we go to the _same_ _school_. I seriously thought you were in college or something." He looked 24 but that childish grin shaved away those years considerably.

He smiled widely clearly amused. "Nope still a youngen, well for the next few months anyway."

"Senior?"

He nodded.

"Sweet. Me too."

His smile grew and he held out his hand. "Let me see your schedule. Hopefully we have class together." I handed him the folded paper and he unfurled it and looked it over.

"Hell yeah!" I grinned at his enthusiasm. Good news I take it. "We got two classes together. This is going to be awesome!"

"Great. At least I'll know someone there." I took back the paper and pocketed it.

"Yeah and-"

"Emmett. Aren't you going to introduce me to your lovely friend?"

We looked over Emmett's shoulder and I swear my heart stopped and I felt all power to my brain shutdown, the wiring disconnecting with a low whine.

...wow.

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><p><strong>Okay so I'm still unsure of what I'm going to do with this story. I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. So feedback would be nice. Also I'm thinking that there maybe, being somewhat of a love triangle with Bella, Alice, and Rosalie. What would you say to that? Thought it would be interesting to see how Rosalie dealt with Bella caring for Mia. Would she envy her or admire her and maybe feel a little bit more for her. Again. Nothing is set in stone so I haven't ruined anything for you. I hope. ;) SO! Tell me what you thoughtthink/feel/hate(nicely or at least constructively) and let me know. Thanks guys!**

**- Lil' Miss**


	3. Apples

**I'm back and I come bearing gifts. Well an update anyway. Think of it as a disgustingly late Christmas present.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><em>"We got two classes together. This is going to be awesome!"<em>

_"Great. At least I'll know someone there." I took back the paper and pocketed it._

_"Yeah and-"_

_"Emmett. Aren't you going to introduce me to your lovely friend?"_

_We looked over Emmett's shoulder and I swear my heart stopped and I felt all power to my brain shutdown, the wiring disconnecting with a low whine._

_...wow._

* * *

><p>"Oh shit yeah. Sorry." He bonked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Bella, my family. My family, Bella." He gestures to the two gor- I mean the two women standing beside him. The shorter of the two scowled intensely at the grinning boy, obviously displeased with his informal introduction. He looks down, noticing the icy glare from the raven haired beauty. He rolls his eyes, sighing. "Fine. Guess we're going with names now." He makes a show of clearing his throat, earning a look that was no doubt the source of the expression: <em>if looks could kill <em>from the small girl. "These two fabulous ladies here are commonly known, _affectionately _might I add, as munchkin and- ow!" He pouts, rubbing his stomach and shuffles a few inches away from the smaller girl. I watched amused. "This delightful abusive _sprite_," The girl's eyes narrow, "is Alice and the cheerful looking one next to her is Rosalie...what? It's true. At least try and smile please." The blonde rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, already looking annoyed.

Geez. What crawled up her amazingly looking butt?

"Uh hi." I waved. God they were pretty. Breathtaking, really. And ooh I'm rhyming again. Stop that.

The spiky haired one who I'm guessing is Alice by the way he gestured to each one, walked over to me and gently offered me her hand. I briefly - and I use that term heavily - had the urge to kiss the top of it but instead clasped it, hoping my palms didn't feel sweaty, and shook it gently. Her hand was ice cold, just like Emmett's when he helped me out of the Jeep yesterday.

I held in my frown.

Hm. Maybe poor blood circulation runs in their family.

"Hello Bella. It's wonderful to meet you." Her beautiful dimpled smile jolted me and I felt a warm fluttery feeling bloom in the pit of my stomach for some reason. How odd. "How do you like Forks so far?" She asked.

"Um it's n-nice." _It's totally soggy and gross. I hate it here._ "It's growing on me." I added. _Like seriously. Moss. Everywhere._

Alice giggled at something and I swear my heart tripped over an artery because it was fumbling in my chest at the sweet fluttery sound. Holy hell that was sexy.

_...wait-what?_

I blinked – several times – and finally noticed the tall statuette figure gently approaching; a delicate pale hand extended and hung in the air, waiting for my acceptance. "I'm Rosalie."

I'm um – what was my name again? Damn it I know this!

I shook my head, blushing furiously at my inner stupidity. "Oh hi. Sorry it's um…it's been a rather slow morning. My caffeine hasn't woken me up I guess." What caffeine? You haven't drunk coffee since Mia. Old habits you guess. "Hello Rosalie. It's nice to meet you." I finally manage coherently. See! That wasn't so hard was it?

The three siblings shared a knowing look but then turned their eyes back to me.

Again I say, how odd. Is this what the rest of the day is going to be like? Because if it is I might as well tape my eyebrow to my forehead so I don't have make the effort. Lord knows it's probably going to quirk at every slight thing that confuses me today.

_Why do I get the feeling like the day is never going to end?_

The three gorgeous teens regarded me oddly, smiling almost knowingly, their expressions seeming misplaced for the situation.

_What? Was there something on my face? _I just barely resisted the urge to wipe my mouth and prod my face.

Other cars were beginning to arrive, filling up the once empty lot with gawky teenagers. I could practically feel their eyes on me as they climbed out of their cars - a blonde guy nearly falling on his teeth when he wasn't willing to peel his eyes away from me - or gossiped with their friends.

I wasn't one to hold the opinions of others in high regard, or act like it actually meant a fig to me, I could really care less, and really, why worry about it?

But, I was beginning to border on paranoia as the growing crowd of students began milling about the parking lot, staring at me, watching my every move.

Talk about stage fright.

I don't like crowds. Never have. Most likely I never will. But over the last few years I've discovered that I like them even less now. Which isn't much at all.

I could tell, even without the blatant finger pointing from the less subtle of my peers that today was going to be a _long_ day. Or a shitty one.

Guess we'll see.

"After you m'lady." Emmett gestured, offering me his elbow. I inhaled deeply as I accepted the muscled forearm with a soft smile. "Later ladies." Both woman waved in our direction as their eyes never left my face. I swallowed roughly and jerked my head in front of me, not having the guts or the tongue to say goodbye to them.

Emmett was all smiles though, completely unaware of the careful gaze I was getting from the two women he knew so well as we made our way to our shared class.

_Okay Bella. You can do this. It's just ...first days jitters is all. Nothing to be anxious about. No bigs. You got this. Just remember your manners. Say please and thank you when necessary. Learn stuff and don't die. Yeah. Totally encouraging. And for crying out loud stop acting like a jitter bug! You are not on crack so calm down!_

Emmett opened the door for me when we arrived by a forest green door with the numbers 104 in white block font.

Upon entering the room, I was given the usual formal greeting one would expect on their first day by the teacher, introduced to the entire classroom from the front of the room and made to say one thing about myself –_fuck my life_- which went something like this, "My name's Bella Swan and I like horror movies and no that does not make me weird." I chuckle nervously. My new classmates looked at me strangely, like I had just bitten off the head of a chicken and spat it into the crowd.

Yikes. Tough crowd.

Emmett, who I now claimed as my new buddy, patted me encouragingly on the back and ushered me to the back of the class and to an empty seat.

I was so happy to finally be sitting down. Course I was still being stared and hushed about by my new classmates, it was still a hundred times better than being ogled by the whole student body before I even stepped foot on campus.

Note to self: investigate possible fear of crowds... Could be a problem at band concerts…

Though it's not all bad. I haven't tripped at all this morning...yet. So that's still something to look forward to.

And I also had a feeling that Emmett was too busy glaring at any one that so much as whispered 'new girl' or glanced at me too long for me to be worried about it.

Bless his buff heart.

I was arriving a few months into the quarter, so it's safe to say that I was too new to survive the year unnoticed. Even though that would have been super lovely, it was only wishful thinking.

Hey. A girl can dream right?

I felt a gentle nudge to my shoulder and turned my head.

"How good's your aim?" Emmett side whispered.

"What? Oh um good I guess. Depends. Why are you asking?" I asked baffled.

"Here…hold this." Emmett pushed a long piece of plastic in my hands. Is this a straw? I looked through its long tunnel at the teacher up front. Yup. It's a straw. I turned my head to look at Emmett who was busy rolling small pieces of paper into little balls on the desk, a pink tongue peeking out at the corner of his mouth in deep concentration.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"What? Oh come on. Live a little. This is only one of the ways I keep my sanity in this place."

"Aren't there more constructive ways to spend your time like, I don't know, learning."

He shook his head. "No point. I already know all this stuff."

"Oh really." My voice rises in incredulity. "Are you like a secret brain?" I prop my head in my hands as I look at him with a lazy smirk.

"Yup." He smirks. "Mah brain's huge." he winked.

I covered my giggles with my hand. With a shake of my head I told him, "With that ego of yours to overcompensate with I doubt it's that big."

"Oh Bella, you wound me."

I bumped his shoulder, "Shut up. I was just teasing."

He bumped right back. "I know. Totally hurt my man parts though. I hope you feel guilty."

"Well you tell little Emmy how remorseful I am alright?"

Emmett smirked and looked at me. "We are going to get along just fine, Ms. Swan."

"If you say so Mr. Cullen." My lips curled. He bumped his massive shoulder muscle lightly into my much smaller and wholly unimpressive one.

"So have you seen much of the town yet?"

"No offense but...there's not that much to see." I replied gently, though honestly.

"Only said by someone who doesn't know where to look."

"Very true."

"It'd be my honor to be your guide."He announced sagely and bowed his head, carefully sweeping his arm out and over me, and curtsied, I think, which was only slight since he was sitting down. I suppressed a smile and rolled my eyes playfully at his silly antics.

"Well with an offer like that, Mr. Cullen, how can I possibly say no?"

"I know right." He waggled his eyebrows.

I shook my head and wrote the finishing formula that Mr um... Mrrr ...whatever-his-name-is was working out on the board.

"His name's Crotchet." Emmett supplied helpfully as if reading my mind. I nodded as I watched the man go from the right end of the board and resume writing the equation from the beginning. Seriously. Who still works in chalk?

"God. How I would love to just knee him in the Crotchet. B- my ass." He mutters. I smiled at his petulant complaint as he folded his arms, clearly pouting his displeasure with a supposed 'bad' grade he got.

Emmett, as I was starting to learn, was a little trickster. An adorable, mischievous trickster with a heart of gold as it turns out. The large bear of a man was responsible for _three welts_ on the back of Mr. Crotchet's neck and a possible bruise on the poor man's backside when Emmett's spit ball storm ended with Mr. Crotchet tumbling to the floor unexpectedly. I arched an eyebrow at my desk partner, watching from the corner of my eye as he sat innocently with his fingers threaded together on his diligently taken notes with a small, barely-there smile on his face. Then, Mr. Crotchet shot up from the floor grabbing quickly for his desk chair which, unfortunately, happened to be a rolling chair, sending him crashing to the floor again with a squeaky yelp. I stifled my chuckles because as guilty as I felt for laughing, it was rather amusing to see him fumbling for purchase on the desk. Grasping clumsily for the side of the desk like he was drowning, Mr. Crotchet pulled himself up, this time slowly, and finally regained his height, and his dwindling dignity.

Poor guy.

The man straightened up, cleared his throat nosily, and glared hatefully at the remaining students who were laughing unabashedly. I pursed my lips and watched Emmett's reaction. Oh God. The guy looked constipated. He looked pained like he was seconds away from bursting.

Apparently not trusting us for a second, my new teacher sat carefully in his chair and glared at us for the remainder of class, giving up his verbal and chalky demonstration on the board.

Five agonizing minutes later the bell rang and we were free to go, not without a steely glare to every one of us as we had to pass his desk to get out of the classroom.

"That was horrible." I said, clutching my books closer to my chest. My guilt suddenly reigning supreme in my chest as I thought about what just happened.

"Are you kidding? That was awesome!" Emmett grinned excitedly. "Did you see his face?"

I sighed. "Yes, Emmett. I saw his face."

"Man he looked pissed."

"Oh gee, I wonder why." I muttered dryly. Emmett steered us to the right where my next class was and I followed as I walked along side him.

"He had it coming. You'll catch on just how much of a jack ass he is. Trust me. What I did was justice in its sweetest and most hilarious form. You'll come to enjoy that memory soon enough."

"If you say so Emmett." Though I doubt it. We stopped by a double door leading to what I'm guessing is my second period.

"Well this is where we part madam. Your next class after this one is down this hall and to the right. Keep walking until you find your room number. Got all that?"

I nodded.

"Good. Well I guess I'll see you around. Enjoy your day Bella!" I waved as he jogged away with a dimpled smile.

"Thanks Emmett."

I pushed the door open, holding my breath.

_Here we go…_

I walked in.

_Oh hell. What is _with_ these people? I'm really not that interesting kids. Please look away._

"Isabella, I presume." I turned to the cheerful voice to me left, surprised as an attractive blonde woman smiled at me in greeting. I fumbled for words but swallowed carefully and smiled shyly.

"Um I prefer Bella. But yes that's me."

"Wonderful. Welcome to Forks High and I hope you enjoy my class and refrain from sleeping throughout. I'm Ms Lewis." I waved awkwardly at her. The older woman smiled at my shyness and gestured to the class. "Please, sit anywhere you like."

I nodded and scanned over the current seating arrangement, looking for an available seat. Seeing one close to the back but slightly toward the middle, I made my way there.

The lesson was simple enough; we were going over contrast and how light could make a bigger impact on a subject, making it look even more dramatic versus nearly blacking out the image with heavy tones. She was giving us examples and we were to come up with our own piece tomorrow. I had an idea of what I wanted to work on so the assignment shouldn't be too difficult to finish.

_I wonder if Forks has a _Michaels_ by chance. Charcoal could just be what I need._

Though I had come to expect the staring I couldn't help feeling like I was being…studied? Like I was being analyzed. It was weird and I was probably being paranoid but I couldn't shake it; especially in my art class. Someone was taking great care to figure me out. Don't ask me how I know this. I'm pretty sure I've gone insane and will need a straight jacket by the end of the day. Which is why as soon as the bell rang I was out of there before anyone had gotten their stuff together.

_This day is just getting longer and longer_, I thought bitterly. My only motivation was getting in my car at the end of today and picking up Mia. Being able to hold her tightly and smiling as she squealed and giggled to get out of my gentle vice grip.

Though my happy thought soon went up in flames as I saw another passerby point at me as he mentioned me to a group of his friends excitedly. I rolled my eyes.

_I hate people_, I thought grumpily, my steps rushed as I tried to make my way through the halls without running into someone, ignoring the constant staring and hushed voices and freaking pointing from clustered individuals standing by rows of lockers on either side of me. _Hell...it's like these kids have never seen a new student before. Geez and I thought _I_ was deprived. _I forced myself to keep my head up, even though, I desperately wanted to hide behind my hair and pretend that no one could see me, as ridiculous as that sounds.

As pathetic as that sounds. I didn't deal with change well. Like at all. I detested it and avoided having to deal with it when I could. But _thinking_ that, _knowing _that's how I feel, I still don't regret moving here. I don't like it here, I'll be honest but still, the change was needed.

It was an important necessity. For me...and Mia.

I shook my head and tried to focus, nearly missing the next turn to my next class.

Thankfully the teacher didn't feel the need to introduce me to the entire class like my last period and I was spared from making a fool out of myself. Ms. Ross pointed to my seat and I walked there quietly. The instant my tush hit the plastic chair the person in front of me swiveled in his seat and I was assaulted by an overbearing cloud of cologne, making me gag on my spit.

The spiky blonde, who I recognized as the guy who ate pavement this morning when he wouldn't budge his eyes from the sight of me, laid his forearm across my desk and gave me the douchiest attempt at 'the nod' that I've ever seen.

"Whassup. I'm Mike." The guy said in a tone, I'm guessing, was supposed to come off as suave and cool, but failing miserably.

"Hey Mike." I gave him a lazy two finger wave, which he smiled at excitedly for some reason.

I willed my eyebrows to stay put.

"So where you from?" He asked.

"Phoenix." I replied.

"Cool." He nodded, grinning.

Yup."

"I bet its hot there."

"Then you'd guess right."

"Totally different from Forks too."

"Right again."

"Not as many trees though. That kinda sucks."

"Yeah we're having a shortage this year." I muttered dryly.

"That's too bad." He said in all seriousness looking deeply concerned at the news of our tree scarcity. Oh my golly he thinks I'm serious.

Can I just say wow? If this conversation gets any more stimulating I may need a sedative.

I let him prattle on for a good five to ten minutes before the teacher finally decides to do her job and begins class, sending Mike and his stink cloud away for the time being. I swear a minute longer and my slightly dull pencil would have found itself halfway sunk in Mike's eye—I-I mean…

Let's just leave that thought alone for now…

When the bell rang at the end of class I stood from my seat, but before I could take a step toward the exit, Mike stopped me. Dear God what now?

"So listen I was wondering," He began anxiously, rubbing the back of his neck. "If you would like to sit with me and my friends during lunch."

_Are they as boring and over eager to please as you are? _I almost asked.

"Um…"

"They're great I promise." He added quickly. "Except Lauren. She's mostly a bitch to the extreme but you learn to just go with it and eventually you forget she's there."

This does not soothe me at all.

"Um sure. Why not." Who else am I gonna sit with? It's not like Emmett offered. Though maybe he might have. Whatever.

By the time lunch rolled around I gave up on trying to figure out the layout of this place and followed the hungry crowd.

I opened the double doors and immediately I heard my name being shouted through the cafeteria.

Mike was waving his arm about in a ridiculous attempt for me to spot him.

_I see you dumbass._

I gave him an embarrassed nod and pointed to the lunch line, hoping he'd get the hint and stop making a fool out of himself. Eventually he plopped his butt in his seat and I silently made my way to the end of the lunch line.

As I eyed the food options with a skeptical eye I found my once growing appetite dwindling.

An apple it is then. It was the safest option for lunch, I figured. I paid for my fruit and walked to Mike's table and sat down next to a brunette with glasses.

Mike introduced me to each person at the table but he went by it so quickly I barely had time to remember their names properly. Though Lauren's death beam expression was hard to miss so she was the first person I remembered. Conversation picked up around the table again and I was just happy to sit there and listen.

"So are you going to the back to school dance?" Mike asked, a little too eagerly, looking up at me from his plate, before raising a fork lift of whatever brown mystery glob the lunch lady aggressively slapped on his tray. I held in a grimace as I watched it jiggle on the spork. Food should never jiggle, ever, unless it's like gelatin or something of that sort. I mean, that's pretty much its only purpose in life right? To jiggle merrily and ..._why_ am I talking about this? Oi, my brain.

Everyone waited expectantly for an answer, all eyes trained on me. I found my knee bouncing anxiously as I tried to think of an appropriate answer that didn't sound close to, "Hell to the no." or the infamous, "Hey look at that!" pointing behind them and bolting from my chair before they turned back around. Yes I would so do that. _If _I was desperate enough. Like really desperate.

Yeah I'm not good with confrontation. I hated being in the spotlight.

"Um I can't." I breathed, my voice low and the words running together a little too closely. I pulled air into my lungs slowly, calming myself and forcing stillness into my already frantic heart. I'm not good with interrogation either. Or sharing anything about myself. I knew, especially by the irritated skeptical look Jessica was practically stabbing me with, that I was in for a heap load of questioning.

"Aw why not?" Mike whined and I held in the urge to roll my eyes. Really? You're using that tone and you're how old mister? Mia doesn't even whine like that.

"I have to babysit." I said before taking a large bite of my apple. See and it's not a _total_lie. It's just a simple one. So it's very easy to follow. I subtly nodded at my reasoning and took another bite of the green fruit.

"Oh really? Who?" Jessica leaned in and gave me a somewhat nasty look and for the third time in the span of twenty minutes I wondered if she was bipolar. Though my gut was telling me that she was normally this unpleasant but also I think I was putting her on edge for some reason.

"Does it matter?" I replied back with just as much bite. "Either way, I can't go."

"Still want to know who you're supposedly babysitting. Especially since you just got here. You can't possibly know anybody so soon." Jessica glared. I sent her a look, it's the look I used with Mia whenever she was throwing one of her fits and I knew that she knew that nothing positive was going to end in her favor. I quirked an eyebrow, completely unimpressed and just stared...Jessica lasted five seconds and then she was huffing and darting her eyes elsewhere.

_Hm._ - I hid my smile behind my apple and took a bite, chewing happily. - _I win._

"There's no _supposedly_," I used air quotes. "about it. I am babysitting. Really appreciate it if you would kindly lay off." Give me points! I said that somewhat civilly. Up top! ...anyone? ...okay then. I'll just high five myself...like a loser.

"Enough guys. It's really no big deal who Bella babysits ...right guys?" The cute nerdly chick says in a tone, making eye contact with every single occupant at the table until they all nodded. I smiled.

Go you nameless girl.

I mouthed a thank you to her when no one was looking.

She nodded, smiling softly in my direction. 'You're very welcome.'

So I think I have one new friend after today. That's something, right?

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p>It was finally the end of the day and I couldn't be happier. The only thought in my head as I practically ran to my car was - <em>Mia. Gotta get Mia. <em>And something that sounded vagually like_ - __Holy God I survived! I hate school so much. I can't wait to hold Mia and play freaking Peek-a-Boo for an hour. God I missed her. I hope she was okay today? I mean she doesn't know this place, the kids she plays with are strangers to her. Its all so new for her. I just hope she's alright and I hope the teacher hasn't lost her mind by now. God help the woman if Mia decided to lose her shit today and make things difficult. It was a likely possibility that I was afraid of._ I crossed my fingers on both my hands as they rested on the steering wheel as I drove to the day care center.

I knocked at the door when I got there and waited anxiously for an answer. Can she be any slower? Mia will be a teenager by the time they get around to answering the door. Whoa. Scary thought.

"Oh Ms. Swan. Sorry for the wait. I was wrestling a three year old when you knocked. Please come in."

"How was she?" I followed her down a narrow hall way until it opened up to the play area.

The woman smiled as we watched Mia play with a stuffed dog and a small army of Barbies and Kens. I loved watching her play. She got so into her toy stories sometimes. I couldn't help but be fascinated and amused she emoted so adorably but so seriously as she played. Currently, Mia was really engrossed in her game as she gave the dog an irritated voice and began telling off a row of Barbies. The Barbies, apparently, were just as annoyed. I shook my head. Such drama. "An angel." I heard her teacher reply. "She is such a sweetheart." I smirked at that. "And smart too." The woman adds, gushing.

I groaned and looked at her. "Oh don't tell me you're in love with her too?" I joked.

She chuckled. "It's kind of hard not to be."

"First day and already she has a fan." I smiled. "What a lucky girl."

The woman smirked at me from the corner of my eye as I watched Mia manipulate the dog's paws so it looked like it smelled something bad, fanning the front of its snout with one paw and covering it with the other.

"Weird dog." I mumbled.

I walked up behind her slowly, careful not to step on any toys (or kids for that matter) whilst watching as Mia bounced her characters around at appropriate times when they were talking.

"You aww stink reawwy bad." I hear Mia say in an exaggerated gruff voice. "I don't wike being here."

"Then go away you _stinky_ puppy dog." Said a blonde Barbie doll. "And don't come back!"

"Guys guys!" A brunette doll came into the picture, holding out her plastic arms in front of both of them. "Don't fight. You need to be nice." She seemed to be trying to console both parties but neither of them were listening.

"No. They're monsters! They're going to eat you!" The dog said.

I raised my brow at that. So backwards. Huh. I would have thought the dog would be the bad guy.

"Nu-huh!" Mia and the brunette shook their heads together. "They awesome! They wuv me and Mia."

My ears perked up at that. So she was including herself in the story?

"They're going to eat you!" Mia growled cutely making the dog look angry as its body dipped low like it was going to attack. The brunette got in front of the Barbies, as if shielding them from the fluffy animal.

"You're wrong! They never -"

"Roar!" The dog made to pounce on the Barbies and in the brunette's direction when Mia's hand left the waist of the brunette and shot out, sending the dog flying away in the air.

"Bad dog. You wisten!" Mia scolded. I laughed before I could stop myself, nearly falling on my ass. _So cute. _Mia's head whipped around at the sound of my voice, her eyes brightening and her smile wide as she shot up from her spot on the floor and leapt for my legs, almost knocking me over again.

"Oh shi - oof! Ha ha! Hey baby girl. Did you miss me?" The girl immediately nodded and stretched her arms up, wiggling her fingers eagerly. I chuckled and picked her up. "Are you sure you missed me? I haven't gotten even one lovey-" Mia's little arms wrapped tightly around my neck, nearly choking me in her grip.

_Gawd_! Girls like an anaconda.

I patted her back and laughed - as best I could - regardless. "Okay okay. I believe you! Let me up." Her grip loosened - if only slightly - and she leaned her cheek against mine still holding me to her as if I was the one being cradled.

"I missed you too" She whispered in my ear like a secret. I smiled and squeezed.

"Good. I was beginning to worry."

Her head shook against my cheek.

"Never worry."

My smile grew. "Come on. Let's get on home little one."

"Where's home?" She asked. I stopped dead in my tracks, stunned, completely unprepared for a question like that, and especially one so heavy and so hard to answer from a three year old.

I felt my nose burn, foretelling of emotions that I knew didn't deserve to be seen. Swallowing the painful lump in my throat, and vigorous rub to my nose, I began walking again. "It's where ever I'm at baby." I held her tighter. "It's wherever I'm at. Now come on. Maybe if you're good we'll get you some ice cream on our way to the house."

I laughed as Mia squealed and bounce excitedly in my arms.

* * *

><p><strong>So there you have it. Let me know what you think. This chapter was mostly to introduce most of the main players. Let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading.<strong>

**- Lil' Miss**

**Oh PS: Have any of you seen Lost Girl? And yes this is pertinent to the story. Maybe. Sort of. We'll see. ;)**


	4. Sweet & Spoiled

**The response to this story is amazing! I'm so glad that a lot of you are enjoying it.**

**Also, some of you reviewed but didn't leave a User ID so I couldn't reply to you. Which makes me sad…but eventually – once I remembered the package of Oreos sitting next to me – I got over it. ;D**

**But all the same thanks for the love guys and simply reading my story and liking what you saw. It all means a lot. XD**

**Now enough with my thank you speeches! On with the plot!**

**EDIT THINGY: Please forgive any mistakes you see. I rushed through this and for that I am sorry. But other than that I hope you like! ;D**

**Enjoy! ^.^**

* * *

><p>It's been almost a week since we moved in with Charlie. The man was trying <em>way<em> too hard to make us feel comfortable and happy, but I honestly didn't have the heart to tell him to back off. I'm not that much of a bitch. Even though, sometimes, I wish I was. It was his way of making up for lost time and making us feel okay there. I got that. But I don't want him to feel like he owes me anything either. I mean, the last thing I want is for him to feel like he has to pay for us to live there. Just yesterday when we stopped by the store, he bought Mia all the toys she pointed at and squealed for– spoiled her rotten he did – even though I told him it wasn't necessary. Because really, that's a lot of fucking toys okay! She already has a suitcase full. She doesn't need any more. My _sanity_ can't afford for her to _want_ anymore. But before that, two days ago, he gave me 500 dollars and told me to go shopping for myself. He said that I could use it however I wished so long as I got something I wanted. I sputtered at the wad of cash -Yeah that's right. I said _wad_ – and told him I couldn't accept it. He didn't need to buy my love or my company or Mia's for that matter. We were here. That should be enough. But even still, Charlie proved to be just as stubborn as I am. - Huh. Maybe that's where I get it from - and just smiled in that boyish shy way he was known for and walked away.

What was I supposed to do? I didn't feel right spending it. But on the other hand I was in desperate need of warmer clothes. Mia too.

So I never touched it. I'm still debating with myself what to do. So until I can come up with an answer or a sign suddenly drops from the sky and bonks me on the head, that ridiculously thick wad of money is staying safe and sound deep in my closet and stuffed in the toe of what I like to call my 'fancy converse'. Meaning they're the fairly new shoes that I haven't totally wrecked or scuffed…yet.

We'll see what happens.

But for now, I have other problems to deal with.

"_Ooh_ you better sit down little girl." Big brown eyes widened at the sharp tone, but none the less slowly began rising from her chair, wiggling up. My eyes narrowed. "I mean it, Mia. This is the last time I'm telling you. Sit. _Down_." I leveled the unusually anxious little girl with a glare, daring her to disobey me. She hesitated for a moment, but thought better of it, and plopped her little butt back in a seat with a huff.

_Thank_ you.

I don't know what has gotten into her lately. Well, I had an idea - but I was wishing and hoping that it wasn't the problem. I knew that uprooting Mia wouldn't be easy, on either of us, but I'm trying to make it okay. I'm trying to make being here a good idea. But I'm honestly not sure what the best way to make it better for her is. The only thing I can do is act positive and smile at her as if saying, "Everything's going to be okay." I make sure my smile says that every time she looks at me. Though, that last part isn't really hard. Smiling, I mean. Every time I see her I can't help but smile. Even if it's just a tiny one. She warms me. She fills me up with so much …_I don't know_ …_life_. Joy. Warmth. She truly is my happy thought. When I'm able to make that beautiful girl smile she makes me believe I can fly. That I can do the absolute stupid impossible. The things that were never far from our reach when we were younger. The things that were simple and that we didn't have to stretch to obtain. That happy endings were just that…happy.

She makes me happy.

But – as always the case – with such precious moments and bundles of joy, come _worry_ and _anxiety_ not far behind. I worry that I'm not doing enough, that I can't give her everything she needs and wants and hopes for.

I worry that there will be little things that I'll overlook in her life that I could have smoothed over and kissed better had I looked closely enough. I worry about the big things. Will I be prepared for them? Will I know what to do? Will I get it right? Will she be okay? Will I be okay?

I-I um…I just worry about her.

But then again…what mother doesn't?

* * *

><p>"Are you okay?"<p>

"Huh?" I blinked and turned my head.

Emmett was watching me curiously. I hadn't realized I had gotten so quiet. A song we both liked started playing on the radio so we both silently chose to listen instead of chatter for a short while. It wasn't until I realized that the song was no longer playing that I must have zoned out for a good while, judging by the look Emmett was giving me.

"Oh um," I cleared my throat, nodding. "Yeah yeah. I'm good."

"Ya sure? Ya seem kinda spacey today."

"Just thinking is all." I shrugged.

"Must be some pretty heavy thinking. Anything you'd like to share with the class Ms Swan?"

I snorted at his horrible stuffy female impression. He sounded like Martha Stewart if she had bees up her nose. I giggle/snorted at the thought.

"What?"

I shook my head. "Oh nothing. Just laughing at you like always."

"It's because I'm hilarious." He popped his polo collar.

"It's because you're weird."

He rolled his eyes. "You say weird but _all_ I hear is awesome."

"Yeah. I'm sure you hear a lot of different things when the wind whistles between your ears." I cackled at my own joke, smacking the steering wheel lightly with the palm of my hand.

"Ha ha ha. Bella made a funny. One for the record books ladies and gentlemen."

"Oh hush. That one was _totally_ funny."

He sighed. "You think too much of yourself Bellster."

I scoffed. _"I_ think too much of myself?" Holding my hand to my chest in disbelief.

"Yes. That's what I just said."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

It's been like this every day. It was easy for me to joke and mess around with Emmett. He made everything feel easy. Emmett had a very laidback, easy-peazy-lemon-squeazy vibe about him, smiling and laughing didn't feel so much like a chore, and for the first time in a long time I felt my guard lowering and my shoulders relax. I didn't feel like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders when I was giggling so hard and so badly my abdominal muscles hurt. I told him more about Phoenix and the few friends I had there. I told him about how I hated the heat but miss it dreadfully since I got here but that it was growing on me…slowly. He shared a little about his family and that he was adopted and that all his siblings were. I smiled as he told me about his parents. They sounded lovely as he described them for me. They both sounded like terrific people. And now I was going to meet them. All of them. At once.

I got nervous again.

Emmett of course, caught the look of fear in my eyes and smiled at me reassuringly, pushing my shoulder so I would knock it off.

Right. He was right. I had nothing to worry about. I'd be fine. It's not like the thought of seeing certain…_curious_ individuals had me sweating or anything. I mean, Alice seemed to find my eyes across a room without fail or hesitation, like she just knew when I would be looking at her, and Rosalie…well …she was a little harder to figure out. I've seen her looking at me a few times but it seemed more like she was sizing me up. All these things had me so muddled to the point that by Thursday I just ignored them. All of them, except for Emmett.

But I also didn't know them. They were probably all really great people and by the excited look on Emmett's face, he was looking forward to introducing his new friend to his family. It was that enthusiasm and my need to make my new best friend happy that made my decision all the more easier when he asked to hang out this weekend. His mom had asked him to invite me over for game night or something. I was a little nervous. I don't know why. Emmett was so easy to talk to and so damn funny I was kinda hoping the rest of his family would be that way too. I had yet to meet his brothers, Jasper and Edwardo…something. They were both kinda recluse. I used to have fourth with Jasper but on my third day there he transferred out so I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Though, now that I think about it, maybe talking was the last thing that guy wanted to do. He looked like he was having some bowel movement troubles or some shiz. If I didn't know better I'd swear on the secret stash of Oreos under my bed that he was menstrual cramping. But I did … so he probably wasn't. I think. Edwardo, Edmund, um – we'll just call him 'Ed' – was totally giving me the stink eye all week long. Now _he_ was probably menstruating…or constipated. It was like he was trying to will something out of me. Several times during lunch I'd catch him glaring at me and had a sudden urge to just catapult my wrinkled 'steamed' veggies at him with my plastic spork. My aim as vastly improved since I met Emmett.

This was the first time since moving to Forks that I've gotten to go somewhere that wasn't school, daycare, or the grocery store.

I was grateful that I wouldn't have to worry about Mia tonight. Charlie was all too eager to watch Mia so I didn't feel too bad about leaving her.

It was nice. I don't think I've had a Mia-free day since she was born. Not that I've ever tried. I was petrified of leaving her alone. But Charlie had a gun and a badge…and a gun. So I wasn't _too_worried.

Maybe I should call though. Ya know…just to check in – I mean see how things are doing. Not that I was _worried_ or anything. I'm just concerned – I mean _curious_!

Oi. Maybe I do need to get out more.

"So how's the munchkin?" Emmett suddenly asks, slicing the quite right down the middle. I'm not sure if I'm grateful for the mental interruption or not.

"What? Oh. She's fine. She wasn't as cranky this morning as I thought she'd be. She um – she doesn't like new places."

He frowned in sympathy for the little girl, which shocked me. I wasn't expecting him to care. Well, I mean, I thought he was merely asking to be polite but he seemed rather genuine. I smiled at him.

"That sucks." His brow crinkled. "Has she always known Phoenix?"

I nodded. "Yeah. But I'm hoping in the next month she'll be okay. I'm trying to make the transition as smooth as possible but even I have hiccups."

He smiled softly at me. "You're a great mom."

"Yeah well…" My eyes snapped to him. "W-what?"

_How'd he-when did-who—_

_...well fuck.  
><em>  
>"I don't know <em>what <em>you're talking about." I zeroed my eyes ahead of me, willing my features to go blank. "She's my sister." I told him, impassive, as I twisted the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles paling, the wheel squeaking under my grip.

He nodded, understanding. "Hey I won't tell anyone. It's cool."

I wasn't sure how to take that. I mean – I just – God! Why won't he believe me? Did I say something that wasn't convincing? Did I do something? _What_?

"Why would you say something like that?"

"Because it's the truth…isn't it?" His expression was so open. So kind. I almost wanted to cry. I almost did.

But I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say to that.

Though…I knew what I wanted to say. But those words just stayed stuck, failing to move from inside me. It wasn't on the tip of my tongue. It was at the back of my throat, making me feel sick for not forcing it out.

I was silent for too long. Emmett looked worried.

"If I offended you _please_ let me know. I'm really, _really_ sorry if I did."

I looked at him without turning my head, and then flicked my eyes forward. I sighed. "You didn't offend me Emmett.

He went silent as he watched me. He obviously didn't know what to say then, probably afraid of upsetting me again.

"I didn't?"

I shook my head. "No."

I looked at him carefully. "So…you really don't care?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I don't know. Ever since Mia was born people have always looked at me with pity or disappointment. Or they immediately assume the worst of our situation. I just don't want you to look at me that way." I said quietly.

He smiled softly. "I won't. And I'm not. I just see Bella and a cutie who loves her Momma."

I can't help but coo at that. "That's so…"

"Disgusting and sweet? Yeah I know." He brushed off imaginary lint from his massive shoulder. "I have my moments."

I chuckled softly but then got quiet. "Thanks Emmett."

"Hey no problem. I am totally a new age kinda guy. I can handle the softer stuff and still come out manly on the other end."

I snorted. "The other end of what I wonder."

He opened his mouth and closed it, obviously not understanding my joke.

Sigh. My humor is wasted.

He scrunches his thick but perfectly shaped brows, pointing at me. "Did little Bella just make a gay joke?"

"I don't know. Did I?" My brow rose, amused.

"Yeah that's the thing. I have no idea." He grinned, shrugging.

"Oh never mind...wasted I say." I mumbled.

"What?"

"Oh nothing."

We were both in my car. Emmett had told me that he was taking a walk an hour or so before we were meant to meet up and just decided to trek the rest of the way to my house. I had just shrugged at his story and hadn't thought anything of it. That is, until we took my car and I was being given directions to his house.

"Holy _crap_dude! Did you fly to my house or something?"

He grins slyly, chuckling to himself. "I told you I went walking."

"You mean sprinting. You had to have been booking it to have covered this amount of ground." I scoffed at the mere idea of Emmett actually walking to my house as I searched the upcoming sides of the road for any houses and finding lots and lots of green things. I groaned. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost. You whine too much. Stop that. You're hurting my ears."

"Oh shut it and just start giving me directions. There's an intersection coming up."

"No no. Just turn here." He points to the side of the road with no pathway in sight.

"What? Where?"

"_There_. No! Slow down! You're gonna miss it."

"Miss _what_? There's nothing out he—oh. Well look at that. It's a road, a road that was impressively concealed by growing _foliage_." I manage to yell. "You could have told me that it was concealed by foliage Emmett."

He shrugged his arms. "I thought it was pretty obvious."

I glared at him incredulously. "No _dork_. No one ever expects to drive through thick shrubbery and survive, much less discover a wide gravel road that probably leads to Narnia."

"Have you noticed how much funnier you are when you're irritated? I have. And no, I do not live in Narnia." He said like the mere accusation was absurd – which it was. "Be hella awesome though." He smiled excitedly.

I rolled my eyes and watched the road, noticing that it was beginning to widen a little more. Trees surrounded both sides of the road, creating a sort of thick canopy but it was somehow shielding direct sunlight from making the path easy to see. I was a little farsighted so the lack of light made me uneasy.

Emmett told me to just keep going straight and reassured me that nothing would jump out and charge through my windshield if his guns were present. Meaning his Hulk arms. I snorted at that, thankful for the distraction as he made a few jokes about me screaming in terror if Bambi over there even looked at me wrong.

I glared playfully at him as he laughed to himself.

We drove for a moment longer until I could see the road opening up and – oh my garsh!

"Holy glass house, Batman." I muttered softly to myself, _completely_ to myself, not to be heard by _anybody_. Except the next thing I know, Emmett is practically shaking the car as he throws his head back and laughs loudly.

Stupid word vomit.

I shook my head as Emmett rolled his back from side to side in his seat, still laughing. It wasn't _that_ funny. I rolled my eyes with a huff and got out of my car once I parked in a spot that seemed okay. "So, are you going to introduce me to your family that I'm just _dying_ to meet," I planted a hand on my hip as I watched him. "_Or_ are you going to just giggle like a freakishly large school girl and stay in my car?"

He chuckles and makes to open the door. "Yeah I'mma comin. Just give me a minute." He chuckles every now and then as he rounds the car and I can't help but find him utterly hilarious as he fights his inner giggles, his cheeks swelling as he presses his lips together tightly,

"Such a dork." I shake my head as Emmett leads me to the front porch.

He seems to compose himself enough as he turns to me. "So you ready to meet the weirdest family in America?" His eyebrows wiggle.

"_You're_ related to the Addams family?" I gasp jokingly.

"Even better. Hold on to your panties Bells. It's about to get _real_ crazy." His dimples pop out and I hold my breath as he swings the door open and walks in.

I climb the short step up and find myself over the threshold, only to falter a step as I realized that we're not alone.

Six pairs of golden eyes watch me, each expression playing differently than the next. But a pair in particular held my nerves prisoner as I watched them dangle the keys to my escape with a mischievous twinkle.

Okay, _now,_ I was nervous.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes Ms Swan you are in fact the mother of your child. Any questions?<strong>

**But really, was there any doubt? *smirky smirk* ;)**

**You know the drill. Let me know what you guys thought or think should happen –**_**politely**_**! – and I'll get back to you with the next chappy.**

**Much love guys! XD**

**- Lil' Miss**


	5. Slighted

**SO! Quick update for ya. The reviews have been incredibly encouraging. A lot of you have fixed opinions of this story and more and more of you are simply intrigued and happy no matter what unfolds. =D**

**Before you drop down below and read like there's no tomorrow, I just wanted to say a quick thanks to rocket-runner. You helped even **_**me **_**understand Bella a little better even when I **_**thought **_**I knew my interpretation of her perfectly. So cool points for you! ;D**

**Okay I'm done!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Welcome to case de Cullen, Bella!" Emmett grinned, gesturing his arm around the open space of the foyer and its residents. "Where the people are just as intriguing as their eating habits, and the food still has some <em>kick<em> to it. Where the walls are so thin you'd swear you could hear everything, even from outside." He looks pointedly at Alice with a smirk. "Where the smell of food is nonexistent but the smell of lamb is practically _pulp_-able." He giggles a little to himself. "Where the—"

"Emmett!" A woman with long wavy auburn hair scolded him. "You are not doing a very good job of acting like a gentleman." She says in a measured tone.

I raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what he meant. Were they on some weird diet or something?

"Yeah Emmett. Do shut up." Alice was doing her best to look like she was smiling but it came out more like a vicious sneer. Obviously Emmett's odd sense of humor wasn't as appreciated at home like it is when we hang out. Even if he does act like an adorable ass most times.

"What'd I say?" He asked innocently.

"Really, Em? You have to ask?" The female blonde glared.

"Oh come off it. Bella girl doesn't mind." He looks at me. "Right, Bells?"

I look to my friend and to the rest of his family as they watch me, expectantly. "For the record, just so we're clear, I have no idea what you're talking about."

He turns to his family with a wide smile. "See. No harm done."

Rosalie unhooks her folded arms and throws them in the air, sighing in irritation. "We're doomed. We're doomed. All because of this guy. Totally dead."

Emmett snorts. "It's not like we could get _more_ dea—"

"Emmett! That's enough!" The auburn haired woman snapped. "_Watch_ how you act tonight or so help me you will lose video game privileges for _two_ years."

My eyes widened at the threat. _Two_ _years_? They don't mess around here do they?

Emmett pouted and folded his thick arms. "Fine. Ruin all my fun."

"Keep it up mister and no fun will be the least of your worries." She promised.

"Yes ma'am."

The woman looked at him hard for a moment longer before turning her eyes on me and smiling, her features softening considerably. "I apologize for my children Bella." She walks over to me and opens her arms to embrace me. "Welcome to our home. Sorry that couldn't have been the _official_ introduction."

"It's fine. I'm getting used to Emmett's crazy humor." I told her smiling once she let me go.

"Told you she wouldn't care." Emmett muttered.

"Not a word young man." The woman said sternly not taking her kind eyes off me.

Emmett tightened his folded arms, scrunching his brow petulantly.

"I'm Esme and that dashing man over there is my husband Carlisle." She motioned with her hand to a young looking blonde to my left. The rest of the family was standing a little at a distance as they circled around the entrance. I suppose _formal_ introductions were in order.

The man in question approached, pale hand extended in greeting, a kind smile held gently on his face. "Hello Bella. How do you do?" His tone was smooth and refreshing like cool water and I found my jitters lessening as it washed over me.

I smiled and took his hand…his very _cold_ hand and reigned in on my composer. So they all have horrible blood circulation. Don't be weird Bella.

"Great. It's nice to meet you. Both of you. Emmett has told me so much about—"

"How much exactly?" Rosalie muttered.

I faltered slightly at the intimidating look I was being given from Ed and Rosalie but pulled it together quickly. "All good things, I promise."

Emmett grinned at my response and looked to his siblings and stuck out his tongue.

"Brilliant." Carlisle said with a wide smile. "Now I'm sure you know Alice and Rosalie at this point."

Huh? Emmett must have said how I met them on my first day and— "...both sharing classes together—"

"_What_?"

All eyes shot to me.

I uh I mean…what—are the odds?

"I mean… yes… I do. Have classes with them, I mean." I sucked my lips in my mouth and shut up. I had _no_ idea I had classes with them. Oh my God. I never even noticed. That's just great Bella. Not only do you look like an utter freak for screaming at their father but now you just let slip you're completely unaware of your surroundings. I looked to Emmett pointedly.

_Save me!_

He looked at me with a grin and then saw the look of desperation in my eyes and wiped it clear. "So what games are we playing?" He asked with an excited flourish, clapping his large hands together and rubbing them together.

Everyone looked at him curiously. Esme recovered quickly and beamed at the question. "Oh we thought we'd let Bella decide. Seeing how she _is_ the guest of honor this evening."

Guest of what? I am?

"I um…okay." I smiled nervously; just figuring agreeing to everything would get me out of looking like a complete idiot in front these people.

"Oh but before I forget, Bella, have you met Edward and Jasper yet?" Carlisle looks at me expectantly as he gestures to his two other sons, it was then that I noticed the blonde standing much farther than the rest of his family.

"Um no I haven't." I waved at them. "Hey."

The blonde bows his head slightly and offers me a tight but kind smile. "Bella. It's awful nice to meet you sweetheart. I'm Jasper." His tone suggests a slight accent but it was barely noticeable.

I smiled at him. "You too Jasper. Sorry we couldn't have been in the same class a little longer." I don't know why. I just feel like I lucked out on that one.

"Ah that's alright. Wrong class for me to be in anyway. Needed a change." He shrugged.

Change from what?

"I'm Edward."

_Huh?_

I looked away from Jasper and over at the auburn haired boy that was …now standing _directly_ in front of me. When did that happen? His pale hand was held out for me to shake and I looked at it.

Oh! _Duh_.

I took his hand, noting how it was just as cold as the rest of his family. So it runs all the way through the family…and it jumps genes too. Adoption be damned.

"Hi Edward." His grip slowly grew firmer as he smiled crookedly at me. I felt Emmett tense next to me and his body hums oddly. Though I didn't think too much on it. Edward was still grinning, reminding me of one of those creepy China dolls. I watched the boy carefully. Edwards's features didn't change, his applied pressure increasing…okay ow.

"Wanna give the lady her hand back Edward? Think you've had it long enough." Edward's smile didn't fall as he finally released his vice grip and stepped back. I regarded him oddly. What the hell was that?

"What game were we playing again Emmett?" Jasper asked, turning his gaze to the brother still standing next to me, changing the attention away from me and Edward. I hid my hand behind my back and flexed it.

"That's all up to Bellzy here." He looked down to me. "So what's say you…_guest of honor_?" Oh he caught that too?

"Um what games do you have?" I asked, looking at him. Looking at him was safer ground to be on. I could carry an entire conversation with the person across from me all while looking at Emmett just to remain in my safe little bubble. Except that would be weird…and wholly inappropriate. Not to mention weird. I said weird already right?

"Every game you can possibly imagine and I swear on my sexy Jeep and my boss-ass COD rank that I'm not exaggerating. Pick anything."

Oookay.

"I guess… Apples to Apples?"

Emmett's eyes lit up and I heard the sound of Esme sighing softly next to Carlisle.

"Coming right up! That's one of my favorites." Emmett waggled a finger at me with an excited grin. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

"Because I'm totally awesome and you're jokes would be wasted on your bathroom mirror. Duh."

Everyone laughed.

Emmett glared playfully. "That's totally low, Bells. My uber manly feelings are hurt." He pouted, his bottom lip poking out as he held a hand to his chest.

I waved my hand dismissively, making him pout further. "Eh. You'll get over it."

"Have you no soul?" Emmett asked dramatically.

"I probably left it in the wash. Laundry days the modern killer." I heard Esme snort softly at that.

"You're a sick chick Bella Swan. Just _sick_." His tone suggested he was utterly disgusted but his grin told everyone that he was loving our banter. I was too as I grinned at him.

"Let's hope I'll get over it. I kinda have to work next week."

Emmett shakes his head. "I so wanna give you a loving noogie right now." He chuckles.

"Yeah keep that to yourself alright, big guy. Too much too soon will have me running like hell."

Emmett bent his head back and laughed loudly. "Then I guess we all better wait a few decades."

"Huh?" My brow furrowed, utterly confused. "You lost me."

"Thank heavens." Rosalie muttered. "For the love of God, will someone just get the damn game already?" She griped

"I'll get it." Jasper walked further into the room behind him and disappeared around a corner.

"I think a friendly game sounds wonderful! Gives us a chance to better get acquainted with Bella here." Carlisle smiled, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

I smiled nervously at him. "Yeah."

"Why don't we take this into the sitting area? I think a neutral ground that's _far_ away from my favorite china is ideal. Especially when it comes to _this_ game." Esme said.

"Why? Do you guys get rowdy?" I laughed.

No one laughed with me.

Esme gave a soft nod and winced somewhat gently. "Rowdy is not the word I would use. But yes, in a matter of speaking."

"Oh."

A serious bunch? Yay.

An aggressive and competitive, serious bunch? Well, it's like a double fucking rainbow. Who can possibly ask for more?

Five of the Cullens began making their way out of the foray. Rosalie walked up to us. She said nothing and looked at Emmett with a level glare.

_SMACK!_

Emmett grabbed the back of his head. "Ow! Fucking _A_, Rose! What was that for?"

_SMACK!_

"_That one _was having to ask what you did wrong. _Again_." She swiveled on her heel, arms folded and walked away. Ouchie. Now _my _head's a-throbbing and I didn't even get bitch slapped.

"You okay?"

He grinned softly at my concern but shrugged briefly. "Yeah. Nothing a little gloating at demolishing her at family-friendly board games won't cure." He rubbed his head, still wincing. He starts to walk away but I grab the crook of his arm, halting him.

"Emmett, hold up."

"What's up Bella-roo?"

"You um you didn't tell them…about Mia, I mean?"

He shook his head seriously. "No, I didn't. Cross my manly heart." He made an X over his chest.

"Okay…" I nodded trying to let his words ease my nerves. It wasn't working. "You promise?" I pushed again. I had to make sure. _Absolutely_ sure. I wasn't ashamed of my daughter. The complete opposite. I was just careful with whom I told. Who I let in our tiny circle. It was the looks I was more concerned about. I'm eighteen. Mia's three. You do the math. Well, unfortunately, most have, and that's where the looks and the judgmental comments come from. You think people won't go out of their way to express how irresponsible and immoral they think you are, and then they prove you wrong again and again. At least that's my situation. I've had people who I told Mia about and once the friendship went sour I realized too late the kind of people they really were. They tried to make me look like an unfit parent. Almost had Mia taken away from me. I promised myself I would be more careful next time, or I wouldn't put myself in the line of fire to be in that sort of situation again. If that meant having no friends then so be it.

"I promise. I didn't tell a soul…and I won't unless you say its okay." He squeezed my shoulder gently. "Alright?"

I nodded, firmly this time, smiling. "Okay. Sorry I just—"

"Wanted to be sure because you worry too much?"

I chuckled and shuffled my feet. "Yeah. Pretty much."

"We need to work on that." He said, tapping my nose. "We good now? Can we please go in there and kick all their asses and apples?"

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." He grinned and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"This is going to be so sick!"

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><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

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><p>Holy fruit basket this is actually fun. I thought it would be painful being in a room for a few hours with people I didn't know. But it turned out to be quite the opposite. It was a warm atmosphere and they all tried their best to make me feel welcome. Edward thankfully didn't talk to me for the rest of the night and simply kept glaring intensely at Emmett for half the evening. And it was just loads of fun watching everyone justify their cards to make sense so they would be that much closer to winning. Rosalie and Emmett went at it a few times when it was Emmett's turn to choose a winner. I don't think I've laughed that hard and fell over a chair in such quick succession before. And I was still laughing when Alice helped me up into my now up right seat while Rosalie and Em still argued over the damn card.<p>

Then it happened…

"Who's Mia?" Edward asked, stilling my laughter. I choked on the once joyful air in my lungs and cough violently and then sputtered as it quickly rushed out of my body. I went from fluffy warmth to freezing cold so quickly I barely had time to process. My heart sunk to my stomach and I wrestled with this acidic feeling in my chest. Was it fear? Anger? Or was it betrayal? Yes betrayal sounded about right. Emmett promised he wouldn't tell anyone. He promised he _hadn't_ told anyone. So how could Edward of all people know about her? How could he know her name and link such a name to me unless we were talking about a specific person? He couldn't unless he knew.

My eyes shot uncertainly to Emmett, asking for him to explain. To tell Edward's other personality to stuff it.

My new friend glared at his brother with a look that said he'd like nothing more than to smash his face in and kick his ass all the way to the moon…and then pin-ball his ass from one planet to the next.

"Emmett?" My voice was so small I barely heard it. "What's he talking about?" I asked even though I knew exactly what he was saying. But I wanted Emmett to tell me differently. To tell me he was talking about someone else. That he was referring to one of the many voices in his head that just happened to be named after my three year old daughter. I wanted him to tell me a story that explained all of this so he would wind up looking like the guy I could trust again.

Emmett sucked his lips in, pressing them together tightly before releasing them and looking at me with an obvious apology in his eyes.

He—he told? No. No he promised he wouldn't. I trusted…

My eyes shut tight, squeezing back the moisture I felt behind them.

Then I just got mad. I got _real_ mad.

_Fuck this._ I glared at him and rose from my seat quickly, my jaw clenched and my nose burned, eyes pricking from the angry tears that wanted to burst out of me.

"Bella…I'm so—"

"Save it." I held up my hand. "Just…don't. I told you not to but you did anyway or you told him before and lied to me about it. You don't lie to me about her…ever." I was saying too much. I wasn't making sense. I'm overwhelmed and I need to get out of there. Get out of there!

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Cullen but I really must be getting home. It's getting late." I tried to look at her but I knew my eyes were probably getting red and shiny and I was embarrassed that they were all witnessing my impending breakdown.

"Oh …I'm sorry to hear that dear." She said gently looking puzzled as she looked upon both her sons. "Would you like to take a plate of cookies home?"

I waved my hand at her. "That's alright. But thank you. They were delicious. I really must be going. Sorry. I h-had…had fun." My damn voice cracked as I smiled brokenly. This was my fault. I should have expected this. This was all happening too easily. Friends that cared. I should go. I should – I should go. Now.

I turned away and fucking tripped on something on my way out of the lounge area.

"Bella wait!"

I ran to the foray but it didn't get me there faster. Emmett was somehow in front of me, looking so broken and confused. "Just wait okay?"

"Emmett get out of my way."

"No. No I'm not moving until you let me explain."

"I said _move_ Emmett."

Emmett looked wounded and I cried for him. "Bella I didn't—"

"Please move Em." I pleaded, my voice cracking.

His shoulders slumped as he watched me. "You shouldn't drive like this. At least let me drive you home."

I sobbed softly. I was pathetic. Don't fucking bawl in front of this guy. In his fucking _house_!

"I'll be fine. Now get out of my way."

Emmett went to protest but Alice appeared next to him. "I'll take her home Em."

"You sure?" He asked. Alice looked at him pointedly.

"Right. Um…okay. I guess…I'll see you around Bella?"

I didn't answer as I walked away. "Goodbye Emmett." I opened the door and didn't even wait for Alice to follow. Apparently I'm unfit to drive. Meaning I'm pissy, petulant and pouty.

I want a damn cigarette …and a Hershey's bar. Give me some fucking chocolate…goddamn it….stupid Emmett…and stupid Edward…and stupid Edward's smirkyness….and stupid –oh and damn it I'm crying again.

"Here."

I lifted my head. A tissue was being offered to me once we got in my car; me in the passenger seat and Alice turning to me with a soft smile.

I took it. "Thanks."

Alice smiled sadly and turned back in her seat. _My_ seat. I should be driving. Alice shifted gears and reversed out of the spot I had placed it in and adjusted the car and shifted back, accelerating down the gravel road and away from Narnia.

I was so lost in my woes and my emotional horse shit that by the time I looked up we were maybe three blocks away from my house.

I felt bad that Alice had to drive my car just so I'd get home safely. She barely knew me and—wait.

"How are you getting home?"

Alice tensed the slightest bit at my question but released and then smiled softly. "Carlisle is going to pick me up."

"I feel bad. You really didn't have to go out of your way. I'm sor—"

"Please don't apologize, Bella. If anything Edward should be the one spouting apologies. Whatever he said upset you and Emmett and that's _not_ okay." Her teeth clenched and I just nodded, remaining silent.

Whatever. I didn't care so much about Edward being a bitch. It was the knowledge he possessed that I cared about, and how he obtained said knowledge. That last part was the real, true kick to the gut.

I didn't even notice when the soft music from the radio completely went silent and the heat shut off. "We're here. Safe and sound."

I blinked, finally registering that we, in fact, were parked neatly in my driveway.

Oh. So we are…cool.

"Thanks again for the ride." I said as I unbuckled my seatbelt. Alice smiled and got out of the car.

"It was no trouble." She walks around the back of my car and up to the porch with me. She looks like she's hesitant to come in or ask if she can come in.

I looked up to the heavy gray sky. I didn't like what I saw.

I sighed. "Do you want to come in? It looks like it's going to rain any minute." I can't have her dripping wet and cold when Carlisle shows up. I've already been slighted by a Cullen; I don't need them to feel slighted in return.

Alice looked up above her and gave a tiny, almost knowing smile and looked back at me. She nodded, smiling widely. "That would be lovely."

"Well get on in here. I don't want to get drenched to." Alice giggled to herself even though I wasn't joking.

I opened the door for her and ushered her in. She smiled as she passed me and I felt goosebumps prickle my skin for some reason. I shook it off and turned to the gross looking sky above.

Stupid impending rain.

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><p><strong>Ooh dramadramadrama! O.O My heart physically hurt when I wrote this. But hopefully it gives you all a better idea of each of the Cullen's personalities. Sort of. Maybe. Hopefully. ;D<strong>

**Well keep the reviews coming people. I was already working on chapter 7 when I finally decided to post this. More reviews = quicker updates. Its a fact. ;)**

**Thanks again.**

**- Lil' Miss**


	6. I Hurt Too

**I just wanna say that you, yes you, the one that's reading this story. I love you. For reading, reviewing, favoriting, alerting or what have you. Yes there is love in my freakishly large heart for all of you. Hey! Don't get weirded out by my platonic appreciation for you. Embrace it I say. ^.^ Thanks so much guys.**

**Just a song recommendation: I Hurt Too by Katie Herzig heavily wrote this chapter for me, okay part of it anyway. Especially near the end as soon as Alice leaves. I'm not gonna say anymore just check it out if ya can! ^.^**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Awkward is as awkward does…<p>

…and we weren't doing anything aside from looking around us aimlessly.

This was boring.

"Do you...uh want something to drink?" I asked, finally sick of the quiet.

Alice shook her head. "I'm good thanks."

I nodded mutely as I moved my eyes away.

Well this was awkward.

Still.

"Do you...maybe want anything to eat?" I ask, already making my way into the kitchen and as I began opening the door to the pantry in search of something suitable to whip together and hopefully time consuming. "We have loads of snacks here. My pantry looks like Hostess and Nabisco had a fiesta and invited all their fattening sinfully delicious friends." Oh my God you're babbling. Silence yourself.

Alice giggled.

I blushed ans kept my head stuck in the pantry in embarrassement. When I deemed my face at a reasonable temperature I leaned back.

Charlie walks in then, beer bottle in hand. He smiles when he sees me. "Hey kiddo." He looks over to Alice curiously. "Kiddo's friend." He smiles at her and sticks out his hand. Well at least someone's in a good mood. I hope Mia didn't give him hell while I was gone.

Alice smiles pleasantly and delicately takes his hand into her smaller one, shaking it. "Hello Chief Swan."

"Heya. Ya know, you look awfully familiar." He points at Alice. "I haven't busted you for anything, have I?"

"Dad!" I screeched.

"What? It's a legitimate question." He remarks innocently.

Oh my God.

"One that you do not bring up in casual conversation after saying only three words to someone." I said. "Especially people I go to _school_ with." I side whispered through clenched teeth.

"Right. Sorry." He says slightly embarrassed, neck turning pink. "Hello Alice." He says cordially.

She giggles and smiles at Charlie. "Hello again."

"A-lice...Alice." He taps his chin. "That wouldn't happen to be Alice _Cullen_, would it?"

She smiles and gives a nod in the affirmative. "It would."

He snaps his fingers. "I knew it. You're Doc Cullen's kid. Nice man. Best doctor this town's ever seen. Ya know, I've been meaning to ask him about this foot cream that-"

I rolled my eyes, looking away from them.

Charlie looks over to me, his smile dimming.

"Um right," He coughs in his hand for whatever reason. "So now that that's outta the way. How was date night? I wasn't expectin' you till 9"

"It was _not_ a date. So let's just kill that brain fart right now." I told him seriously.

He raised an eyebrow, rubbing the back of his neck. I was getting snappy. I'm too emotional right now to have a normal conversation but I knew that it would look odd if I simply ran out of the kitchen and locked myself in my room, also it would be incredibly rude and Charlie would undoubtedly think the worst if I did. I hate this. This is nothing but totally awkward.

Breathe, Bella. Just breathe, honey.

I sighed loudly and ran my fingers through my hair. "I wasn't... feeling well so I left early." I told him. Which...kinda wasn't a lie. I did feet like shit. So I guess you'd say it was a vague form of the truth. But details details.

Charlie frowned. "Why? Did something happen?"

Why did he have to ask that? Why did he have to assume that I left because something upset me? And why did I have to be the daughter of a cop? These are the questions I will never have answers for. Dang it.

I couldn't lie to him. But I also couldn't tell him that I was blindsided by Edward, lied to by Emmett and lost a potentially great best friend all in the span of a few hours.

He'd have words. Angry words. And he also had a gun. I've mentioned this before, right?

God I suck at lying and I never like to lie so that pretty much takes the craft of fine tuning a skill out of the equation if you never do it to begin with.

Oh hell.

"I-I well um...y-ya see um" I chuckle nervously, like that's making me sound more convincing. Shit. "...the thing is-"

Then, surprisingly, I was saved by a Cullen. The shorter one mind you. Alice laid a gentle hand on my shoulder and leaned a little in front of me to gain Charlie's attention. "I think Bella here had a few too many cookies this evening and was reaping the consequences of my mother's fantastic baking skills. I thought it'd be best to take her home."

"Oh." He looks at me worriedly, inspecting any signs of my supposed 'ailment'. "You kinda do look a little green." He commented.

No that's stress...and heartbreak. But whatever. Yeah sure. The cookies did it. That's a new one. Next we'll be blaming Facebook for eating my homework and the walls for telling Edward about the existence of my three year old daughter. But sure let's go with the damn cookies. "Yup cookies. Darn them." I replied blandly. I wasn't even trying to sound convincing.

Who gives a fuck?

Alice looks at me somewhat hesitantly. "Is it alright if I stay here till my father picks me up? It looks like it's going to rain so I hope you don't mind if I-"

"Oh no sure stay stay." He rushed out.

God really? Really Charlie? Its bad enough I just pretty much broke up with her brother tonight - the best friend equivalent, anyway - but now I have to spend time with her after all this..._shit_ has happened? I don't feel okay with this. But I'm not a bitch either. I won't throw her out in favor of licking my own wounds. Because really, that's just cold. And I happen to think of myself as a pretty warm ...erm...luke warm kinda person. So yes Alice, you may stay. Don't expect me to like it though. I don't care how insanely pretty you are or how glorious your perfume smells or how much your smile makes me feel like I can float to the moon from sheer harnessed butterfly power... ... I'm not going to like it. So suck it...okay maybe that was the wrong thing to say.

Bite me? ... okay. Ya know what just never mind.

I groaned softly but covered my mouth to look like I was yawning...which actually ended up not being artificial. Damn I was beat. Emotional bullshit will do that to you.

"Sorry." I said, waving off my obvious exhaustion. Charlie frowned. "I think I'm beginning to run out of steam." And patience for casual conversation. God shut up already.

Oh no. Grumpy Bella is making an appearance. I was really irritable when I was exhausted. Like nearly homicidal crabbiness. Chill out okay? Think of the mess you'd have to clean up if you killed them, Bella. Just...be measured about this.

"Hey it's nothin' to be sorry about. Oh and the little one conked out early tonight. I hope that's okay. I tried to keep her up but she pretty much slapped me when I tried to move her from the couch. Like, seriously." He frowned and rubbed his jaw with an obvious wince, flexing the muscles. "That kid has a _mean_ right hook." I raised a skeptical brow at that as I watched him. Wait a second…I lightly touched his jaw muscle, finally noticing the bloom of tinged purple. What the hell?

"Are you sure you just didn't run into something…like a door? Or an 18-wheeler?"

"What? Why?" He asked a little alarmed. I was making an effort to touch him, which is something I never did so it was cluing him in that there was obviously some apparent damage there. I motioned with my eyebrows at his jaw as if saying, "Take a look, genius." He looked at me confused as he slowly turned away from me, walked away and turning the corner and down the hall, probably to the bathroom.

"Oh shit!" We hear him. He groans softly. "The guys are going to have a fucking field day with this."

I frowned. Okay. Uh-uh. There's no way my little Mia, my three year old, 44 inch tall little girl, could have done that to a 5 foot 11 grown man. Maybe he drank a little too much. Though, it wasn't like Charlie to flood with excess. Especially while watching his granddaughter. I noticed he never drank more than one beer when Mia was in the room. Though, when he was with his guy friends at the reservation then that was a different story. But I didn't want to accuse him. I had no way of knowing. Hopefully he did run into a door and Mia's really not tripping on steroids. That way I won't have anything to worry about. His face'll look less like a swelling grapefruit eventually.

Charlie walks back in the kitchen, looking a little shaken but more than a little confused. "So…I think I'm going to need another drink." He walks up to the fridge and opens it quickly.

I want to ask him just how much he's had tonight, but that's a conversation for another time. Alice is still here.

"So um ya sure you don't want those fatty snacks?" I ask, turning to her. She looks up from Charlie and over to me.

"Oh no. I'm fine I swear." She waves the offer off gently with her hand.

I nod and purse my lips, mashing them together nervously. Holy crap this was awkward. I turn to Charlie questioningly.

"Is she still there?" I asked. I didn't like talking about it. I knew that Alice was probably either really confused about what, or rather, who we were talking about or she was slowly trying to make certain pieces fit together as we mentioned them. Connecting the dots once she saw one pop up.

Whatever the case, I needed to keep this brief. Lord knows how much Emmett was spilling about Mia, I didn't want to give them anything else to gossip over.

Charlie didn't answer as he was too busy inspecting his warped reflection in a large serving spoon as he gently prodded his face.

I raised my voice slightly to gain his attention. "_Char_lie?"

He looked over. "Huh? Oh! Yeah yeah. The kid's still passed out on the couch. You uh...need me to move her?" He asked cautiously.

My brow arched as I looked at him incredulously for a moment, and then shook my head. "No I got it. Maybe my face will have better luck."

He chuckles uncertainly and scratched his temple. "Yeah. Just remember to duck."

"Sure thing." I muttered. Charlie put the spoon down on the counter and took another swig from his beer.

"Well g'night ladies. This ol' punching bag is retirin' for the night. Say hello to your father for me will ya Alice?"

"Of course. I'll be sure to pass the message along." She smiled.

"Night." I called out softly. Charlie raised his beer bottle in the air as a form of salutation and walked out of the kitchen. Alice watched him go then slowly turned to me.

"So," She drawled. "Your father seems nice."

"Yup." I sighed. "Yup he is." I shuffled my feet.

Awkward.

"Are you okay?" She asks gently, out of nowhere, her step hesitates as she moves in my direction, but stops herself.

"No. No I'm not." I whisper.

Damn it! What is it about this chick that always has me so damn frazzled? I feel off kilter. Unbalanced but not in a dizzying way.

"I'm sorry."

I snorted, which came out sounding gross and so incredibly unladylike I felt like crying from embarrassment. "Why? You didn't do anything."

"Yes but that doesn't mean I don't feel remorse for what you may be going through. I wish I could fix it." she says softly.

"Well, you can't. But don't worry about me." I'm used to this sort of thing.

"I wish it were that easy." She said.

I furrowed my brow. "What?"

"Nothing." She sighs. "Never mind."

It's quiet. Which is so effing painful I'd rather run head first into a steel wall…repeatedly. There's something so incredibly tangible and agonizing about awkward silences that makes one want to jump out the nearest glass window. Open. Shut. Who cares?

The _sound_ of her clearing her throat settles my nerves slightly, but not by much.

"So I know this is..."She smiles somewhat nervously, which I note as seeming out of character for her. "Horrible, _awful_, downright effed up timing but..." I lifted an eyebrow. "But maybe you would like to maybe … possibly ..."She stretches on and I motion with my eyebrows for her to continue, nodding slightly. "Hang out one day?"

"Um..." I gaped a little, totally not expecting that.

Wait- hold up - what?

"I know its suckish timing, especially after the delightfully warm reception tonight from my idiot brother." I scoff. Sarcastic understatement of the fucking millennia. She frowns at the noise and then sighs. "The skinny, arrogant one. Not the big, funny one." She adds. I don't say anything to that. "But I wouldn't mind maybe getting together someday." She smiles softly at her words before continuing. "And um maybe doing something fun."

"I uh...well uh -" W-what?

She shakes her head softly, smiling to herself. "I know this may sound weird but I've wanted to ask you that for a week now but you're always so quiet and focused in art it seems almost criminal disturbing you."

I blush slightly at my obliviousness. I still can't believe I never noticed her in my class...or _Rosalie_for that matter. Though, a day at school was mostly a feat for survival. So I tended to keep to myself. Unfortunately, my 'new girl' status was still rock solid and the pointing gawkers were persistent and fucking inconsiderate assholes. Cue hermit, anti-social Bella Swan.

"I uh well I don't know." I mumbled with a hesitant scratch to the back of my neck. "And with all this Emmett bullshit I um-"

Alice bites her lip, tensing slightly and then releasing with a sigh.

_Just say no. It's not that hard. Say no._

"Uh c-can I get back to you?"  
><em><br>__No! This is not what we planned Bella! Damn it._

Her lips down turn slightly before giving a small smile. "Of course. Here...let me give you my number...just in case." She reaches into her designer black and white purse with little cut out fabric flowers and petals on the side - which I will admit...was kinda sorta purdy - and pulled out a black pen. "May I?" She gestures with the pen to my hand.

"Um sure." I hold out my right hand to her loosely and she takes it gently into hers. It's immediate. There's a spark, or a shock, or...I don't know – just a fucking pleasant vibrating sting that starts from the tips of her cold fingers to the vulnerable skin on the back of my hand that slithers and licks its way up my forearm, past my elbow and then rockets down my spine, making me visibly shake.

_God!_What the hell was that?

I jump away from her a bit, taking my hand with it. That was...strange. I look at her confused and watch as her eyes finally open, her breath a little shallow. She didn't - did she? Did she feel it too? I swallow at the pleasurable expression on her face.

I rub my right hand with my left. It didn't hurt, per say, it was more of a way to rub out the excess tingles that were making me wanna smile stupidly. I bit my lip. Must be some electrical weirdness going on. Yeah. That's it. Must just be some faulty wiring. That happens, right?

"Let me go get a piece of paper." I look at her, already backing up, simply needing an escape and needing it now. "Don't move." I tell her quickly as I run out of the kitchen and into the living room where I know Charlie keeps loose paper in the in table drawer next to the couch. I halt my steps when I notice a tiny lump of brown hair peeking out from under a mountain of blankets, her new brunette haired Barbie doll that Charlie bought her snuggled under her arm protectively. I smile softly at her, the sight of her smoothing my nerves and softening my tired and over stimulated muscles considerably. I can't wait until I can just... _hold_her. Because I know as soon as I have her in my arms, the bad stuff will seem miles away. If only for a little while.

Not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to the living room, I quickly, but somewhat quietly - because this girl won't wake up for anything, though you never know - got out a legal pad from the drawer and made my way back into the kitchen. Alice was now seated at the kitchen table, her eyes boring intensely at the window next to the back door.

"I got it." I announce softly as I walked closer to the table.

Alice slowly turns her head away from the window; her eyes the last to disconnect and then looks at me, her features seeming to soften as she smiles at me.

"Wonderful." She takes it from me once I hold it out to her, her finger tips ghosting over the back of my hand as she pulls it away, and even briefly, it's there, rattling my nerves and shaking my lungs joyously. I shudder. But bite my bottom lip. I look away then, refusing to close my eyes and bask in this unnatural feeling of pure bliss from such a brief and nearly non existent touch. My lids fluttered slightly but otherwise remained wide and alert as I swallowed thickly.

This is one hell of a night. A part of me wishes I had stayed home but another part, a curious part that simply refuses to believe that I would have been better off not going, says differently. I hate that part. Though it's not saying much. It's simply telling me that...it's better this way. Whatever the fuck that means.

I breathe slowly as she writes her number on the pad.

"There." She chirps happily, clicking the top of the pen and retracting the inky pointy thing. She slides the pad over to me and I pull it towards me, as I inspect the perfect, almost beautiful and gentle scrawl of her numbers and letters. Her lines were high up, indicating thoughtfulness and intense creativity, while her loopy excited y's and g's were suspect of optimism and an outgoing, happy nature.

Um I kinda have a thing for hand writing analysis. Google is amazing.

Anyways, I looked up from critiquing her lovely almost insanely perfect handwriting when I noticed Alice's eyes seemed to be stuck on something to the far left of me. My brow furrowed as I followed her gaze. I groaned softly. Damn it.

Mia's puffy purple jacket was hanging on a hook by the door. Her's hanging lower than everyone else's so she could feel like a big girl and put on her own jacket by herself without us having to get it down for her. Right underneath said jacket were her yellow rain boots with the face of a duck on the toes of it. She had a thing for them. I sighed as I turned around. I was desperately hoping the girl across from me wouldn't bring it up.

It was none of her damn business anyway, I thought fiercely.

Though against all of my desperation and sheer force of will exerted her mouth opened to say something...

_"Make 'em...__  
><em>_Make 'em laugh__  
><em>_Don't you know everyone wants to laugh__  
><em>_My grandpa said go out and tell 'em a joke__  
><em>_But give it plenty of hoke_

_Make 'em roar__  
><em>_Make 'em scream__  
><em>_Take a fall__  
><em>_Bust a wall__  
><em>_Split a seam_

_You start off by pretending__  
><em>_You're a dancer with grace__  
><em>_You wiggle 'till they're__  
><em>_Giggling all over the place__  
><em>_And then you get a great big custard pie in the face__  
><em>_Make 'em laugh__  
><em>_Make 'em laugh__  
><em>_Make 'em laaaaaaugh!__"_

The ringtone goes by ignored as she considers me carefully. I'm sweating. No really. Its gross. I keep my face blank and my eyes steady as she stares at me, trying to figure me out. Although, I note even though its somewhat twisted - with mild relief – is that at least it doesn't feel creepy or intrusive when Edward would do it during lunch.

Fuck. I can't take it anymore!

"Aren't you going to answer that?" I said, pointing to her purse where the obvious lyrics from that one musical who's name escapes me belts out and giggles it's humorous tune.

Alice paused for only a moment before making an odd sound in the back of her throat and glaring at her purse as if it had just bit her and called her Ms Fattypants. She dug for her phone for a second before coming up with it and pressed it to her ear, looking wholly irritated.

Oh thank god. No seriously. Thanks big guy...or girl. Whoever.

"Yes," She hisses into the phone softly.

There's a mumble of words on the other end but I'm really not interested in eavesdropping so I tune most of it out as she sits across from me.

"She's-" She flicks her eyes up at me but I look away, clenching my jaw. Oh. It's _him_. Now the ringtone makes sense.

"...been better I'd imagine. Listen I can't talk right now…no…no…listen. We'll talk about this later…_be_cause I'm talking on the phone with you and it's rude to-…no… … …_no_…N-ugh fine." Her eyes flick to me again. "Um just tell Carlisle that I'll be out in a few moments. Yes. Sure. I-" Her eyes watch me carefully, her lips curling down.

"I don't know big B…okay….yeah...I'll be home soon...okay. Love you too...bye." She pressed the screen and ended the call.

"That Emmett?" I asked, my head still turned away.

She looks at me sadly. "Yeah. He's worried about you."

"A little late for that, don't you think?"

She purses her lips and pauses, rubbing her lips together slowly before replying. "I sincerely hope not. I really..._really_do."

She made it sound like life or death. As if we were talking about something infinitely bigger than a friendship that went to hell and burned miserably in an Armageddon like fashion.

Though I had no idea why.

"Um thanks for the ride." I said softly, ignoring her previous response all together. I rubbed the back of my neck tiredly, feeling my neck muscles tighten angrily. "Oh and the...the number." I lightly waved the pad with the digits in question.

She nods...then slowly gets up.

I stare blankly at the sapphire jeweled ring on my finger, watching as it flickered and twinkled as I turned it.

"It was really no trouble."

I look up at her and as fake - I'd like to think so anyway - as my smile is, I can't help but want to make it bigger as she smiles back at me. I don't, though. No. I look away from her and stand, leading her away from the kitchen and to the front door. She turns to me as her hand hovers over the steel knob, and smiles...then sticks out her other hand, offering it to me to shake.

I'm not thrilled to admit my totally irrational fear of that velvet soft hand. I regarded it wearily and as much as I stand by my self-imposed rule of having a polite approach to just about everything, I couldn't be, and simply nodded at her.

She hesitated in her smile and slowly pulled her hand back to her side.

"Goodnight Bella." She breathes softly, almost reverently, it makes my knees wiggle.

I held the side of the door as she made her way out. "Night Alice."

Something almost stopped me from closing the door but the sudden stiff breeze that blew past me and passed the open door made me think again. I shut it. The heavy click feeling and sounding louder than it actually was.

I lean my forehead against the cool wood then turn my body against it….and then close my eyes….my nose finally burning painfully and I cringed inside as a sob shook my very heart.

It was never going to be easy was it? Trusting again. I put so much hope and heart into making my friendship with Emmett work…and I got shot in the face because of it. Again. When am I going to learn? When will simply hoping, and wishing for something to work out be enough?

Someone…

…tell me when.

Please?

I blinked furiously…and wiped the useless tears from my eyes roughly and quietly walked to the living room.

She hadn't moved. Not even an inch from the last time I had come in here. I moved over to the couch, dropping down to my knees and scooting as close as I could so my side could lean against the bottom side of the couch where the calves were known to rest against. Though, against my best efforts…I cried. I was so tired and so weak I didn't even care anymore. I raised an arm and gently laid it on the plush of the covers, and gently, slowly ran my fingers through silky curls. I'm not sure how long I did that for. Minutes. Hours. Don't know. I didn't care. I tucked a long shiny curl and tucked it delicately behind her tiny ear, my thumb tracing subtle cheekbones that she still hadn't fully grown into and her little brow that was known to display every emotion so innocently and sweetly. I let my index finger caress her eyelids, wishing just for a moment that I could see those beautiful, unassuming Bambi eyes that could make even the darkest of souls weep wretchedly. I cupped her cheek, running my thumb reverently underneath her eye. I let out a watery chuckle as she seemed to snuggle even closer to my hand, like she knew I was near. This. This is what I'm trying to protect. Moments like this when it can just be me and her. No one else. I'm selfish and I'm paranoid. I discovered this quickly enough to watch myself and keep myself in check, but I have my reasons to be jumpy. To be fearful of others intentions. Tonight was prime – fucking – example. I still can't believe he would do that to me. That he would lie about telling his brother. To. My. _Face_. That sliced me up real good. Did my heart in and drove the rusty old knife with a final, sickening thunk.

I shook my head, wet fat tears flying from my face and splattering somewhere unknown.

I pulled the covers back and carefully scooped her into my arms. Ruffled brown hair snuggled into my shoulder, finding the crook and claiming it as her own - which it always would be. Bending slowly and carefully to retrieve her dropped Barbie doll, I placed her plastic friend into her limp hands and smiled as little hands immediately wrapped around her prized possession and hugged it to her. I walked quietly upstairs and gently pushed open the door to my room with my foot. I kinda wanted her close tonight. I don't know. I just needed my baby in my arms. I just wanted to hold her special warmth and be her safety …and _be_ _safe_ with her.

I don't care if it makes sense. I just wanted to hold my little girl.

I switched her into one arm and peeled back the covers on my bed and laid her gently down. I quickly made my way to her room and got her purple and white blanket that she considered her best friend at night and brought it with me.

Closing my door gently, I padded over to the bed. I carefully got under the cool covers, noticing that my baby was shivering slightly from the abrupt temperature change from suddenly being removed from her mountain of warmth and then draped between cool sheets. I scooted closer to her and wrapped her in my arms, slinging her purple best friend over her body under the sheets. Her shivers subsided after a few minutes and I sighed in relief.

Her head found its rightful place between my shoulder and neck, little hand held limply over my heart, Barbie held securely under her forearm.

And then I was complete. I was okay. I was safe.

At least for a little while…

* * *

><p><strong>Welp how was that? Like? Dislike passionately? Absolutely ADORE! Please tell me! ^.^ lol.<strong>

**So question time:What do you think is up with little Mia? Did she really just get in a lucky shot and Charlie's a total lightweight OR...is there something else going on? Hmm...and whats up with those tingles man? Weird wiring indeed...in her pants. ;) Anyways! Show me some love. I've got chapter 7 almost done so when I post it depends on what sort of feedback I get.**

**- Lil' Miss**


	7. Sleeping Beauty

**Hey guys. So this is mostly a filler. Though a necessary filler. (They have those right?) Anyways I've been extremely encouraged by your guys' reviews. It all means a lot. Hopefully you aren't too mad at me for the lack of Alice in this chapter. Or Emmett for that matter, but there is a surprise guest. Some of you hate him. Some of you love him. And some of just can't decide or take him seriously but he's here and...it just might get awkward. ;) but I digress.**

**Quite a few of you had a lot to say about Mia's origin and all of that will be explained. Along with Bella's behavior. So stay tuned.**

**Hm...is there anything else I should mention?**

**Uh nope! That's pretty much it! XD**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>I have to pee.<p>

Like really, _really_ badly.

But there's just one...teensy weensy little problem.

I'm being snuggled/smothered into comfy captivity. Oh yeah. You heard right. Sometime during the night, Mia had suddenly turned into an octopus. A very strong, very clingy octopus. She had both her legs hooked around my thigh and both arms looped tightly around my left bicep; brunette Barbie held snuggly in the crook of her arm.

Ugh. Man, and I really have to go too. You'd think that with all the water works last night I would be spent, but noooo. I just had to be in a situation where I feel like I could explode at any minute but can't do anything about it.

I really don't want to wake Mia up. I just have this feeling like she hasn't been getting much sleep. Kinda like I haven't. Except the odd thing about it is that she's so freaking wired most of the day I'm left baffled. And I'm talking wired. More so than usual and thats seriously saying something, okay? This girl is as hyper as they come, but lately, it's like she's buzzing with energy but doesn't know what to do with it. I feel kinda bad. She's fidgety. Jumping up and down every chance she gets and uh gawd! Don't even get me started on the rambling. She wasn't one for long conversations before we got here but now it's like she won't shut up. I love her. Honest to baby Jesus, but sweet hell can that girl talk! I've done the research too. Well, everything that I could get my nervous yet curious hands on at the local library in Phoenix. Ya know, the classics. _Baby and Me_. _102 Ways How Not To Screw Up Your Child's Life_. Very informative stuff. So what I've gathered is that her vocabulary is apparently more advance for a child of her age. Which is just...well...I'm not sure what to do with that exactly. It's a good thing, I guess. My girl's gonna be a huge adorable nerd.

Harvard here we come.

...Or community college. That's cool too. At this rate without a job, I'll be lucky if I can buy her pencils to fill out the application.

Yeah but anyways, I still need to go. To the little girls room I mean. Sigh. Oh just forget it. What does my clock say...uhh...ugh. 7:19. Damn. That girl will sleep for at least another two or three hours without coaxing. And I know for a fact that she usually sleeps better and longer with me. So give or take another hour or two. Ugh. The things I do for love.

My bladder suffers for the good of my child. Oh yeah. I'm such an awesome mom. I should get a very shiny award for just my will power alone. Then we'll pass more out as we tackle my love and devotion to the girl in my arms and then later on we'll touch base on how long I can hold my breath, my impressive skill at solo ski-ball - and this is just getting depressing. Distracting myself isn't working anymore. I've been doing this for...uhh...the past two hours. Well, I'll probably look like hell today but at least there's no school. Thank God for that. I woke up with a full ache in my lower belly and a near panic attack thinking that I'd have to go in today. Thank God it's Sunday. Though I forgot that Charlie is inviting his manfriends over to watch the big game (apparently every game is the big one).

Anyways, I'll probably just keep Mia up here. Otherwise she'll wanna talk to everyone down there and hold their attention for as long as possible by doing the silliest things. Even if that means standing on top of her head to do it.

Hmm...maybe I should take her to the park ... No. I forgot they don't have one. Or it's getting torn down or something. I don't know. Whatever. Okay so plan B. Umm... I think they have a beach down around here but the sky was so congested looking last night that it probably rained all night. Making me wonder if the temperature dropped too. If that's the case than the beach is an automatic no. Hell. Eventually Mia's going to want some stimulating entertainment and I feel bad if I just leave her cooped up here all day.

_I'll figure something out_ - I sigh softly - _I always do._

I managed to distract myself for another few more minutes before I looked over at my alarm clock again. This sucks.

I tried one last time to unlock Mia's impossible grip on my limbs but eventually gave up.

What on earth have you been feeding this child Bella? Cause either what adults have been saying for years about eating your green vegetables is true or you've been doping her sippee cup and didn't even know it. What's the deal here?

I sigh again and busy myself with staring up at the ceiling and finding shapes in the bumps in the drywall.

"Mmmommy... ... Moooommmmy don gooo." Came a whimper.

Hm?

I looked down as Mia began squirming and whimpering softly, her grip around me only getting tighter.

"Mommy? No! No. Pwease don go! I be a good girr... I-I pwomise! Mommy!... ... Mommmmyyyyy!"

Oh my God.

"Baby. Baby baby baby shhhh. Baby it's okay. It's okay. It was just a bad dream, sweetheart. Mommy's not going anywhere. Mommy's right her. Mommy's right here..._that's_ it. You're okay baby. Mommy's right here. We're all safe. You're okay." I squeezed her tighter to my front and rocked her from side to side gently, shushing her monsters and banishing her little bad dream demons as best I can. "Shhhh. It's okay baby. Mommy's here. Mommy's got you. Shhh." I combed my fingers in her hair long after her soft whimpers died down.

My eyes watered a little at her obvious distress, hanging but not falling. I shushed her and rocked her as best I could until hours later, her eyes greeted the morning.

"Hey sleeping beauty." I smiled warmly at her as I ran the backs of my fingers across her cheek gently.

She blinked slowly, her lids still at half mast ... until recognition woke her up the rest of the way and she threw her arms around my neck.

"Hey hey. Hey now. Baby what's the matter?"

God I was hoping she wouldn't remember the dream.

She sniffed and then shrugged. "Nuffin'." She squeezed me tighter.

"Doesn't look like nothing." I said after a moment as I picked up running my fingers through her hair again. "Did you have a bad dream?"

She nodded and sniffed, curling closer to me as she thought about it.

"What happened?"

"You weft." She whispered. "I was so scared mommy." She sobbed. My heart broke as I shushed her gently and rubbed her back soothingly, my hand rubbing up her spine in circles like she likes.

"I didn't go anywhere baby. I'm right here. I'm right here baby girl. Shhh... It's okay." I whispered as I sat up a little against the head board and rocked her in my arms. "Mommy would never leave you like that."

She lifts her head up from my shoulder and looks up at me with teary eyes that made my heart ache just a bit more. "You pwomise?"

I nodded sincerely. "I promise."

She looked at me for a moment and touched my chest with her finger. "You swear on your heart?" She looked at me seriously, that intelligent glint in her eyes that still leaves me baffled every time I see it there, stuck firmly in her eyes.

I still don't know where she got that whole heart thing from.

I smiled softly and nodded firmly, holding my hand over my heart. "I swear on my heart."

She begins to smile as she pats on her chest. "Me too." She says, her voice beginning to brighten.

I shake my head and chuckle. "Okay then." Not really sure why she did it too unless she just wanted to do it together.

I smiled at her and tucked a piece of brown hair behind her ear.

"Are you okay now?" I asked gently, stroking her cheek with my thumb.

She nodded and grabbed her blanket and Barbie doll, hugging the items close to her in each arm.

"Can we eat now?"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "Yes we can eat now baby." I swung my legs up and over the side as she crawled on her knees on the bed, her precious buddies held closely in her arms as she waddled on the bed, and then carefully climbed down.

"Hold on a minute, okay sweetie. Let me just put some different clothes on." I told her as I walked into my recently organized (Sort of. Kinda. Not really.) closet, already pealing off the shirt I had on.

"Hey. I saw you wear that yes'day." Mia pointed questioningly.

I tugged a green and white v-neck shirt off the hanger and pulled it on. I blushed at her observation. Mostly because I realized how careless I was about getting to bed properly that I didn't really think about changing out of my day clothes.

I unbuttoned my jeans and shuffled my legs out of them quickly. I still had to pee like a mother.

I yanked down a random pair of dark jeans and jumped into them while making my way out of the closet, so Mia could make fun of me. I jumped into the jeans goofily as I pulled them up, wiggling my legs out so I could squirm myself in, Mia giggling at me as I did.

I grinned at her giggle fit on the floor as I pretend to dance in my pants. I laugh at her as she sprawls herself on the floor, giggle/snorting loudly as she looks up at me.

"You're funny mommy!" She smiles, her eyes crinkling in amusement.

"Yeah?" I grin at her, wiggling my leg out a little as I got closer to her and then wiggled my foot gently into her tummy, tickling her with my toes. Her giggles were enough to make me forget about my bladder issues as I bent down to pick her up in my arms and tickle her belly.

"Come on. Let's try and go potty before we eat okay?"

Mia groaned like she was in pain, making it sound long, and drawn out and slightly irritated, all in one breath. I chuckled as I hefted her over my shoulder, no doubt a pout firmly in place on her face, arms crossed tightly.

The potty was, and has been her arch enemy for the last few weeks now. It wasn't news that she hated it with all her little might. Though, even weeks later, it was still funny as all hell watching her glare at it like she wanted to bludgeon it with a scrub brush.

I set her down, shaking my head at the loud humph that left Mia as I got her training seat situated on the toilet. "Do you have to go?" I ask, turning to her, more so out of habit and courtesy than really believing that she wouldn't need to.

She shook her head stubbornly, arms still crossed and chin lifted up in the air, looking away from me. I rolled my eyes. "Well how about we try. You never know." I reason diplomatically. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at the purple Disney princess training seat, giving it an obvious stare down.

"What if I faw in again?" She challenged me.

I sighed and shook my head. "You are not going to fall in. And that only happened because you kept wiggling on the seat and weren't sitting still like mommy told you to."

"I don't have to go." She argued.

"Just try anyways. Come on pip squeak." I lifted her up, her arms still folded stubbornly as I held her in the air, giving the mother of all pouts.

"Mia just try, okay? I'll give you a treat if you go. How about that?" I gasped excitedly for emphasis.

She faltered in her stare down with her training seat and looked up at me. "What kind of treat?" She asked carefully.

I smiled at her and wiggled my brows. "The yummy kind."

_1...2...3..._

The sound of water running made me smile and I praised her and patted her knee as a job well done.

"Good job Mia!"

She smiled proudly, basking in her triumph.

After she was fully done and taken care of, smile still intact as she waited anxiously for me to give her her 'treat'. I finally got to fucking go to the bathroom as well, mumbling relieved expletives quietly...

Anyways!

Now that that's done and over with...

"Now how's about that treat huh?" I asked her once we finished washing our hands, and I picked her up and made our way down stairs.

Charlie's boy's night wasn't for another two hours or so, so we had plenty of time to get something to eat and get Mia dressed and hopefully figure out what we were going to do today.

"Hey Charlie." I greeted as we walked into the kitchen.

"Chewy!" Mia shrieked excitedly, and wiggled out of my arms. I snorted as I set her down. Charlie and I have been trying to gently correct her pronunciation but eventually we just gave up. Charlie just shrugged, accepting the inevitable.

"Hey short stack!" He grinned, picking her up and tossing her in the air.

I smiled warmly at the interaction and watched them as Charlie tapped her nose and she tapped his, making them both laugh. I chuckled and began about making us breakfast.

After the food was prepared and Mia was sitting and eating peacefully - munching happily on her chocolate-chip covered waffles (her treat) - I smiled at Charlie in thanks as he handed me Mia's sippee cup filled with milk and I set it on the table by her plate, and then bent down and kissed her head gently.

"Strange." Charlie mutters. I turned my head curiously and watch as Charlie glances out the window.

I looked at him. "What?"

"I thought for sure it was going to rain last night."

"Didn't it?" but how can you tell? Everything always looks so damn moist all the time.

He shook his head. "Nope. A local man with as many native years under my belt can tell."

"And you've had _many_ years. That's for sure."

"Hey. Watch it with the fogey jokes. Ya gonna give your old man a complex."

"I think it's a little late in life for you to suddenly be getting a complex, Charlie."

He chuckled and shrugged. "Still hurts."

I chuckled softly.

"Want me to get you one of Mia's band-aids with the little ducks on 'em," I said. "or would you prefer Muppets?"

"Damn you're cutting." He chuckled. "You're like your mom."

"Scary thought." I thought out loud.

"Yeah I was just thinking the same thing." He muttered to himself, raising the mug to his lips and taking a slow, tentative sip.

"So should Mee and I horde the food upstairs now so we don't starve or do you think there'll be more than just a bread crumb left after you boys are through ravaging the kitchen?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as I leaned my hip against the counter.

Of course I'm only joking.

But still...guys could eat. And I don't like starving.

Charlie shook his head behind his mug. "Billy said he'd bring all the food so we shouldn't get into anything more."

I waved my hands out casually. "Hey I don't care either way. It's just when I might go to grab something later on and I can't because it's like magically disappeared via the cookie monster or those damn Dorito gremlins."

"I said I was sorry. I'll buy some more goddamn Doritos." He grumbled around his coffee mug, taking another sip as he rolled his eyes.

I tried not to smile and continued. "All I'm saying is that they might get bored with what you guys have or don't have and decide to eat something that's specifically for Mia. I count her shit Charlie because you know as well as I do that this little stinker gets into everything." We both turn our heads to look at an oblivious Mia as she stuffs her face with waffle pieces, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk.

"I'm sorry. I really don't mean to sound pushy. I just - I don't know." I sighed. "I don't care if you guys pig out. Sorry."

It's silent for a moment as I rub my tense neck muscles.

"Is everything okay?" He asks gently.

I stiffen and then unclench slightly as I look over at Mia. I refuse to think about last night. As far as I'm concerned last night never happened and Emmett doesn't fucking exist. "Sure. Why?"

"I don't know. You just seem more worked up than usual but what do I know. I'm a 29 year old man with a handsome mustache. What do I know about teenage girls? Nothing that's what." He babbled, as he sipped again at his coffee.

I sighed and rolled my shoulders.

"I'm fine Charlie."

"Can't kill me for asking." He remarked softly, shrugging.

"Ha." I laugh to myself, shaking my head. "29 he says." I mock, good-naturedly.

"Oh come on kiddo. Just give me this one thing."

I wave him off. "Hey if you want to live in the land of denial instead of the land of harsh reality with us common folk, you go right ahead _young man_."

He huffed. "Well with a tag line like that I'll be sure to send you a nice glossy postcard." He lifts his mug up, and nods.

I sighed.

An hour later and the dudes were slowly trickling in. Every five minutes another one would show with a 6 pack and a bag of chips or something. Charlie introduced me to a few of his friends whenever I was close by. I've already met Henry Clearwater, Sam Moliver, and Jeffry Sterges. Nice guys. Old guys. But hey, they're not _my_ friends.

Charlie walked out the back door of the kitchen and a few minutes later was wheeling in a middle-aged man in a wheelchair.

They ran through the usual pleasantries. 'Hi my names Billy - Hey I'm Bella - Nice to meet you Bella - You too'

Nothing real exciting.

"Where's your boy, Bill?" Charlie looked down at the long haired man in the chair.

The man raised his hand lazily. "Outside. Probably messing around with that godforsaken truck. I swear, if he'd just let me sell that hunk 'o junk, I'd be a very happy old man."

"Hey now. Old? You're two years younger than me."

"I know." Billy winked at me. I chuckled.

"It was nice seeing you again Bella." Billy said as Charlie wheeled him into the living room with the rest of the guys.

"Oh uh...you too."

"Little Bells 'n Swells? Oh my God! I thought I'd never see you again."

Huh?

I turn curiously to the back door where a very large man (boy?) …man-child was standing looking a mix of excited and astonished.

He walks over to me, and just his steps alone made the house feel like it was going to collapse as it shook just the slightest bit.

Holy hell. That is a very big man – boy! Um.

He stops in front of me.

"Hey Bells!" He greets again, smiling.

"Um hey," Guy I don't know. Though, apparently we're on a nickname basis. What was his name again?

And why is name-less guy opening his arms like he's about to hug me? And -_Oh my God!_

"Whoa there partner!" I push against his chest, urging him away. "I think names should be exchanged before we get into anything physical, don't you?"

"Come on Bells. It's me. You don't remember me?"

I squint an eye as I thought about it carefully, "Should I?"

He laughs then, clapping my shoulder roughly, knocking me to the ground. Holy –_hng!_

I grumble colorfully as I get up, dusting my pants off. He wipes a tear from his eye as he looks at me, chuckling still.

I glare at him. What the hell is this guy on? Is he taking a swig from Mia's doped up sippee cup too?

His smile falls.

"Wait. You really don't know who I am?" He asks disbelievingly.

"_No_." I shake my head. "I really don't know who you are." I say clearly and without hesitation.

Usually I would be as a polite as humanly possible when I meet new people, but this guy just hit me so hard I swear I tasted my breakfast again. So. Forget it.

"Wow okay. This is...awkward." He mutters nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

Your fault, I thought.

"Okay um maybe I should do this over."

"Might help." I offer unhelpfully.

"Hi." He grins, sticking out his hand. "I happen to be Jacob Black and no I'm not normally this much of an asshole when I meet people." He tilts his head in thought. "Not all the time anyway."

I nod, taking his hand. That. I can accept. "Hey Jacob Black. I'm Bella Swan and I forgive you for being a major A hole. Just this once though." I tease.

"Lucky me." He grins.

You bet your ass. I usually avoid people who freak me out. Like I said before, it's all about those pesky first impressions.

He smiles at being forgiven and that's when I get a light bulb moment. Oh shit.

Jacob...Billy's kid.

I lean back slightly and eye him, as if looking at him for the first time.

I nod to myself as it finally clicked. "Oh so you're the guy that was supposed to pick me up from the airport." I mentioned bluntly, verbalizing my realizations, as I pointed at him casually.

His eyes widen at my brunt honesty, gaping a little like an unflattering fish for a moment.

"Oh um yeah...yeah that would be me...I guess." He blushes and scratches the back of his head. Charlie had explained the mix up. He didn't get off work in time, since he was short staffed that day - why a police station would be short staffed I have no idea - to drive all the way to Seattle airport and make it there, so he had asked his friend Billy if his son would do it, thinking that I would still remember him. The only problem was that Jacob didn't leave soon enough and got there an hour after I had already left with Emmett.

"Nice to finally meet you." I say.

He laughs nervously. Is it horrible that I love making this huge guy squirm like a nervous virgin?

...Ew. Weird thought. _Weird_ thought. Shoo!

Don't answer that. I already know the answer.

"Jacob, right? Don't worry about it. It's fine. I'm here. Safe and sound and thankfully not cut up into little itty bitty pieces so don't fret over it. Admittedly, I'll probably tease you for it for a good _long_ time but that's to be expected."

"Um thanks...I think."

"Don't mention it. That's my job."

Okay. Now who's acting like the asshole? Hm?

"Bells?" Charlie walks into the kitchen, smiling apologetically at being the interruption, which I seriously don't mind one bit.

"What's up?"

"Mini-you is standing on her head and singing 'twinkle twinkle little star' in the living room. She's been doing this for the last couple minutes. At first it was cute and adorable but now the guys are getting a little uh..._huffy_ since she's parked herself in front of the TV."

See. Told you. My little attention getter.

I rolled my eyes at my daughter.

"Do you mind? I'm sorry for interrupting." He then gestured to the living room. Probably too afraid to approach her since he got clocked last time. I smiled at his apprehension and nodded.

"Sure Charlie. I'm on it." I turned to Jacob and smiled. "It was nice meeting you Jacob...again."

He laughed and watched me leave the kitchen "You too Bella."

After a few moments, Charlie followed me out and I watched behind the back of one of the couches as Mia tried and failed to do a handstand. The guys were getting irritated but seemed too subdued by Mia's charms to deny her.

"Okay!" I clapped, making Mia tumble to the ground as she lost her concentration. Oh don't worry. It's carpet.

"How's about you and me watch a movie upstairs, huh baby?"

Mia picked her head up and immediately her eyes brightened. I grinned at the response and gestured for her to follow me to the bottom of the stairs. The little diva stumbled to get up in her excitement and ran to my feet, running right into my legs when she was too late to stop herself. I held her arms to steady her and hoisted her up into my arms. "Come on Mimi. I'll even let you pick the first movie." I sing-songed. I laughed at the immediate squeals from her, which signaled cheering from the males behind me.

**.oOo.**

So two Pixar movies later, and Mia is already past the point of antsy. She's freaking vibrating in my lap as I hold her.

I sighed softly.

I was feeling guilty. But really, where else could I take her? I haven't been here that long that I know the town like the back of my hand. I'm working on it but I can only get so far when my only routes were to daycare and school and straight back home. I need to just go driving for a bit after I pick up Mia from daycare tomorrow. Just keep roaming until it doesn't so much feel like I'm roaming and I actually know where the fuck I'm going. I can't always rely on the GPS all the time and its not like this town is all that huge.

I sighed again, running my fingers through my hair. Why am I so tired?

Before I could think much on the question, Mia is bouncing off my lap and is running towards the window, climbing on the dark wood storage chest under it. What is she up to?

She spreads the curtains back, letting them drape behind her. I shake my head and move the purple fabric around to catch on the hook to the side.

"What do you see Mimi?" I surveyed the view outside, noticing Jacob walking out to a rusty old pickup truck. God that thing looks ancient.

"Good!" Mia pointed at the young man outside, giggling happily. I watched her motioning to Jacob's bulky form and raised an eyebrow and then smiled and hugged her close.

"Yeah, baby?" I picked her up from behind and we climbed back on the bed, her in my lap. She smiled as I began twirling a piece of her hair around my fingers, playing with it.

"Yup. Very good!" She nodded in affirmation and I chuckled at her apparent seriousness of the whole thing. She was so weird. But so dang cute I couldn't help but squeeze her tighter.

"Who loves you?" I asked playfully as I turned her a little in my arms.

"Mommy!" She squealed happily.

"That's right." I chuckled, nuzzling my nose into her neck making her squirm and giggle.

"Who wuvs you?" She asked, pointing a tiny finger at my chest.

"Hmmm..." I pretended to think about it for a second before I noticed Mia's beautiful smile begin to dim. "Mia does!"

She beamed and nodded. "Yup yup."

"You better love me pip squeak!" I said, as I began tickling her sides excitedly.

She shrieked and squirmed but I held tight as I lifted her up in the air slightly and began blowing raspberries on her tummy.

"No mommy! Noooo!" She curled her body and kicked her legs excitedly but I just smiled and laughed with her.

"Whatcha gonna do about it, huh punk?" I said, grinning.

She giggled and snorted adorably and then flicked her hand in the air. "This."

"What was that swee-oof!" A sequent pillow whacked me in the face and I was eating downy - hard - as I fell backwards.

Ass. Meet floor.

Hello.

I groaned as I cupped the plushness around my face, as I rolled my stiff back from side to side, trying to get some feeling back into it - and much needed air into my lungs since it seems to have evacuated!

"Oh Lord ...I can't breathe." I wheezed.

Mia giggled, and then stopped. I heard a thump and then little feet scittering around on the floor and then drop to my side. "Mommy? _Mommy_! Are you okay mommy?" She asks beginning to sound frantic as she poked my arm and pushed it.

Oh god she's breaking my heart.

"Yeah I'm fine Jelly bean. Just...just next time don't play so rough, okay?" I tried to stifle a stiff cough so she wouldn't feel bad but I ended up making it worse as I held it in. Ah, air. You never know how good you two are together until it's gone from your lungs for several long, excruciating seconds.

She nodded with an obvious frown. "Okay...I'm sorry." she bowed her head, looking way too dejected for my liking.

"Oh hey. C'mere." I said with open arms, wiggling my fingers at her while still lying flat on my back on the cold hardwood floor.

She frowns but drops into my arms willingly, snuggling into the crook of my neck.

"Mommy's just fine, okay? You just surprised her when you hit me with the pillow."

"But I -" She frowns, and I rub her hair gently.

"It's okay." I tell her. "You're not in trouble." I shake my head, smiling warmly at her, hoping my smile is reassuring.

"Okay but -"

She looks down, her brows screwed together so adorably that all I wanna do is squee at her, but that is neither appropriate for the situation or warranted, since her brow displays how conflicted she seems to be inside. And since when is a three year old conflicted about anything anyway?

"What?" I ask gently.

She looks at me, and then shrugs. "Nuffin'."

I furrow my brow and then smile. "Okay then. So where's my beautiful smile run off to? Because I don't see it and it's makin' Momma frowny!" I grab for her around the middle, tugging her to me, her back to my belly, holding her tight as I roll us gently from side to side.

She immediately giggles, like I knew she would, and tries uselessly to flee, not really trying but finding the fun in making it about escaping my dastardly clutches.

She's weird. I know. But damn is she cute.

And she's all mine.

* * *

><p><strong>So I know it wasn't Alice or Cullen family filled but some things needed to be hinted at. Did any of you catch them? *sly grin*<strong>

**Also I apologize for the slowness but things won't heat right away. I'm telling you this now. All good things have to build first **

**Next Chapter: The next day at school, Bella plays hide and seek with a few certain persistent Cullens. Which doesn't end well for her... much to her irritation. Hee hee.**

**Show me your love. Let me know what you like/love/dislike/or think of the story so far.**

**Till next time.**

**- Lil' Miss**

**Oh and just a side note. None of those baby books actually exist. At least I don't think they do. But who knows right.**


	8. Hide & Freak

**Have you ever been extremely exhausted and incredibly stressed out about something that every other thing that came out of your mouth after that point didn't seem to make sense? Grouchy became your default setting and "poke me and die" became your new slogan for the day? Hmm. Hopefully this horrible description paints a somewhat visible picture in your mind. **_**Now**_**…keep it there! And don't let go. Because there were points in this chapter that I thought I was losing **_**my**_** brain parts. So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it came across okay.**

**Now keep in mind that Bella sounds frantic because she is. Not an exaggeration its simply what state of mind she's in at this point in the story. Now I'm shutting up so I don't say anything else. But keep it mind! ;D**

**No Mia in this chapter unfortunately. Thought I'd give the little tike a break and let the young adults have their dramatic confrontations … I mean talk. ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Can I not escape these people? I mean seriously! It can't be - I mean, it <em>shouldn't be<em> this hard to avoid your ex-bestie and two chicks that you hardly know anything about and who are practically strangers too you. You'd think huh? Well it is! And I've been driving myself crazy all day trying to avoid them. Why you ask? Because I have no back bone, that's why. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to deal with him. I don't even want to look at him! Just seeing him across a hallway and knowing that I can't have what I had with him, that he can't be my best buddy again because I was stupid enough to trust him, it fucking hurt. But I should have expected it. It was my fault. I mean, I shouldn't have gotten attached like that. But it doesn't excuse the fact that I was and because of my attachment it seems that him and his family - well the females of which - are relentless in there hunt against me. Why they're so persistent to track me down I don't really care to think about for too long.

It makes me flippin' worried if I do.

Angela told me that the Cullen sisters that she had Adv. Calc, seemed - _a little off_ - was how she put it. They were whispering and arguing quietly about something. And that my name came up more than once. She told me she felt bad for eavesdropping but felt I should know to be on the lookout.

Which brings me back to now...

Just keep walking Bella. Just keep walking.

I was edgy. Fidgety and all around frantic. I was a mess. I hadn't slept well last night and this morning was slow going. Mia was a little monster. Total cranky pants. I wouldn't let her sleep with me last night. I couldn't risk waking up feeling Mia-cuffed to the bed in fear of waking her up. It was mean of me, I know, but I just couldn't last night. I needed to make sure I got plenty of rest for the next day at school - which I didn't and I feel like shit - but I had to make sure I insured my rest. I knew most likely, that it was going to be draining, having to see _all_ the Cullen siblings and worry about what exactly Emmett had told them. Which made _me_ doubt exactly how much I had told him. I didn't tell him that much...I don't think. Damn it I don't know! I had to be on my toes today. I couldn't mess this up.

I shook the thoughts away and began walking to my next class, my thoughts were everywhere but where I needed most. Here. Keeping a sharp eye around me.

By the time I turned the corner and down the hall where my classroom was, I just had to slap myself. Or I would have had I not been lugging my binder in one arm and shouldering my bag strap in the other hand.

My feet stuttered and stopped, nearly forcing me face first into the cement ground.

Stupid! If you were planning on avoiding him this is not the way to do it, Bella!

As soon as I straightened my path from turning the corner, Emmett was there, rounding the corner at the other end of the hall.

I immediately stiffened as soon as I saw him. Shit.

As if hearing my inner scoldings, golden eyes locked to mine, never wavering. His expression running from excited to hopeful, concerned, scared, and finally pleading. Shit 'n crackers.

I fucking high tailed it like a coward, turning swiftly on my heel and – which is golden proof that miracles _do_ happen because I did it without tripping or snapping my ankle in half - walking briskly down the opposite direction.

Fucking coward.

"Bella! Wait - just let me explain!"

Oh fuck. He's chasing after you. Move Bella!

I swiftly ducked around a corner and took off in a sprint.

Which is just...

Stupid.

Because I don't sprint, people.

I walk. Preferably in a straight line and at a slow, careful pace.

But I vaguely remember the last time I tried running from Emmett and he still wound up in front of me.

Which …I still haven't been able to explain yet. At that moment I was more concerned with what would be the safest way to body check him out of the way without me ending up in a full body cast.

Yeah I still got nothing.

"Bella. Just give me a chance to -"

I tuned him out as I rounded another corner, dodging bodies as they stood in my way. _There_. Salvation!

I didn't have to turn my head to know that Emmett was probably only a few feet away from me. I narrowed my vision on my destination and ran like a mother. God this was ridiculous.

And of course I trip as I was almost to the door, ramming right into it and bouncing off it.

_Ow. _

"Oh shit! Bella are you okay?"

God! Get away from me Emmett! I scrambled up and pushed the door open with my body, and then shoved it closed; Emmett's voice rang through the thick steel door of the ladies restroom as he banged his fist softly against it in frustration. "Fuck Bells." He sighed heavily. "I know you're mad at me. And I get it. I do. I screwed up. But if you'd just let me explain what happened -"

"Go away Emmett." I told him through the door.

He sighed tiredly, a dull thud sounding through the door - probably his forehead, I figured. "Please Bells. Just let me -"

"Emmett! God. Just back the fuck off, alright? You lied to me. I would have understood if you had mentioned her to your family before we became friends. But it was the fact that I flat out asked you if you had said anything to your family at all about her. Anything. And you promised you hadn't. You fucking lied to my face. I don't welcome liars into my life. I don't have time or the patience or the strength to deal with them. Fuckers cause too much damage and too many complications. I can't have that. I just can't." I was on the verge of a messy teary babble fest, which wouldn't look pretty. I needed to end this.

I sighed and shut my eyes tight, reining in the subtle burn I felt that was beginning to build behind my eye lids. "Just go Emmett." I whispered. Why does it hurt this bad turning him away? I shouldn't care. _He_ hurt _me_. Not the other way around. But all the same I feel so goddamn empty and guilty. Fucker did a doozy on me. I clenched my eyes shut and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Fuck!" He grunted.

I backed up and retreated into the nearest stall, praying that Emmett would just take the hint and leave me be. I closed it and leaned my forehead against the back of it. What a day. What a morning. I sighed as I rubbed my face tiredly. God I'm beat.

A moment later I hear the stall door next to me slowly squeak open...

I stiffened.

_Shit_. Whoever was in there must have heard everything. That - That's just fine. That's okay. I'll uh - I'll just stay in here like a scaredy cat until they leave. Which hopefully is soon.

Ya know, the fact that I know I'm acting like a scared little girl in this whole situation and not acting otherwise is a problem. But I know myself well enough that I hate - no - I _loathe_ confrontation. Yes loathe sounds much more harsh and accurate.

A few seconds later the bathroom door opens and shuts. I sighed. Good. I guess they left.

Shaking my head at my own stupidity I looked around my body to make sure I had everything and after I deemed myself up to muster, I opened the door and began walking out...

"My my my..." A gorgeous silky voice had my heart stopping as I froze with my foot a few inches from the ground. "So this is where you've been hiding out. Mmm. Gotta say, hiding in the girl's lavatory is pretty lazy. Personally, I half expected you to swan dive into a dumpster."

Oh ffffuck…

I groaned at the sight of them. This was getting old real fast. I've been seeing them everywhere and no that's not my usual paranoia acting up. They've literally been everywhere. Waiting casually outside my classrooms, walking a few feet behind me in the hall way. I don't know if it's that I'm more aware of them now or what but its beginning to make me nervous.

I don't do nervous well, as you've noticed.

Alice and Rosalie stood before me, looking rather expectant as they watched my gaping fish impression silently. Alice's hands gripped the shell of the porcelain as she leant against one of the sinks, smiling softly at me. Rosalie stood by the entrance – or in my case EXIT – watching me intently.

Damn Cullens.

Persistent fuckers. The lot of you.

Grrr. Bella sleepy. Hopefully my crabbiness won't get me into too much trouble today. Especially with the blonde one. She looks like she wouldn't hesitate to cut me given the chance.

"You've been scarce today." Alice noted with a frown.

And again its awkward. It's always awkward with her. Or is that just me?

I shrugged. "Been that kinda day, I guess." I answered vaguely.

She nods slowly.

"I guess so." Biting the corner of her lip gently, her soft eyes seemed to rove over every dip and crease of my face. I shifted a little and then her eyes snapped to mine. "So… how was your Sunday?" Alice asked casually. A little too casually.

Rosalie rolls her eyes.

"Fine." I say carefully. I look to both of them. "Not to be rude …but what do you want?" I mean why would they _both_ be here, acting like this unless they had planned it this way?

"Just to talk." Rosalie said sweetly, almost innocently, making my walls shoot up, and lock down faster than you can say a hippopotamus hurt his hippocampus. Well, faster than that.

I sighed, getting annoyed, but trying to keep it out of my voice. "Could this wait? I have class." I make to leave but Rosalie moves more fully in front of the door, blocking my only escape.

Shit.

"Yeah see that's not going to work for me. We need to talk and it can't wait."

Well aren't you delightfully demanding in the morning.

I stare at her for a few moments, and then clench my jaw tightly, my jaw muscles flaring. I wasn't afraid of her. "Well its gonna have to because I'm currently not in the best mood for an unfriendly chat so if you'll excu-"

Rosalie grits her teeth and hisses like a pissed off animal as I reach for the handle.

I back up a little in surprise, my eyes widening.

What the _hell?_

I swallow the small trickle of fear in my belly and glare at her, remembering that I couldn't be afraid of her. "So ...what? Is this the part where you steal my lunch money? Give me a swirly? Though that seems less classy than what I would expect from you but today is just full of shitty surprises. I guess." I look to Rosalie. I cross my arms over my chest, doing my best to hide exactly how intimidated I was by the blonde glaring at me.

"Bella." Alice spoke softly, grudgingly earning my attention as I pealed my firm eyes away from Rosalie slowly. "We're not here to hassle you. Honest. We just want to talk. That's all."

"And if I don't want to?" I asked carefully, flicking my eyes from her and back to her sister.

"Then you can go. We won't stop you. But please, just hear us out first." She pleaded softly.

I looked at her for a moment, and then turned my head and arched an eyebrow at Rosalie, who just smirks with an arch of her own, challenging me to deny her sister.

I'm not getting out of this easily, am I?

Figures.

"Hate Mondays." I grumbled softly to myself, inaudible to the rest of the room, I'm sure. Or at least I hope. The last thing I need is for them to gossip about how I have schizophrenia or some shiz. And how disagreeable my voices are. Though isn't that the case. Whatever. My head hurts. Oi. My brain.

I rolled my eyes and groaned, stepping back carefully, lest I trip and knock myself out. Then I'd have no choice but to surrender my lunch money, I shake my cluttered thoughts away and lean my back against one of the stall partitions, and mentally prepare myself for whatever they have to say.

"Fine. Speak, I'm listening." I folded my arms and watched them, waiting for them to get on with it.

Because seriously. What choice did I have? Alice said I'd be free to go if I wanted, but Rosalie's eyes told me differently, she'd rather chew nails than let me leave.

Bitch.

"Excellent." Alice sighed in relief, her lips lifting up into a small, pretty smile. ...I mean, a normal smile. Nothing extraordinary about it.

I sighed at myself and flicked my eyes back into focus as I stared at both of them, though I tried to look totally uninterested with whatever they had to say, I was shamefully curious.

Damn natural curiosity.

You'd think I'd learn my lesson after what supposedly happened to the cat.

Alice begins asking about the weather, shooting for casual again but missing the mark by a mile. Rosalie rolls her eyes again and shakes her head, seeming frustrated.

"_Look_ I'm not one for saying anything immensely heavy and then insisting on force feeding you bullshit and adding any unnecessary sugar just to make the truth less difficult for you. I prefer honesty. Brute, and in your face, kiss and make up or get out..._honesty_. No one just says what they mean any more. They toddle and prance around the topic until the other is left confused and unsure of what to say next. Lucky for you I don't work that way."

"Ummm..." Yay?

"So like I said, honesty. And honestly? You're an idiot. There. I said it. Can we go now?" She turns to Alice pleadingly.

My eyes widened, and then my brow furrowed as I frowned, my lip poking out as I finally registered _everything_ she just said.

Wait a minute. I should be offended!

"Hey!"

"_Rosalie_." Alice hissed her name and jerked her head in my direction meaningfully, glaring at her to shut up. "You mind?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes, and lifted her hand up to inspect her nails, curling her fingers in a halfhearted fist, palm up, and looking unashamedly bored with what was going on around her. I felt my eyes begin to glaze over just looking at her. Or maybe its easy to feel that way when I was already exhausted. I dunno.

"Someone had to say it. Otherwise what are we here for?"

"Not to do _that_." Alice spat through her teeth.

"Well if you weren't going to do it someone had to."

"Tact, Rosalie. We've talked about this."

"No, you talked. I don't like spending needless minutes and hours of my time on earth talking _around_ a subject. How is that productive? Simply say it and be done with it."

"It's called being sensitive. I know you're capable of that. You're just being difficult on purpose." She huffed.

Rosalie narrows her eyes, sneering slightly. "Well I'm all out of patience this week, my dear. _Bella_ _here_ made sure of that." She gestures to me with her hand.

My eyes ping-ponged from one sister to the other.

I raised my hands in surrender. "Hey I -"

"Shut it." Rosalie cuts me off sharply, glaring at me intensely, and my mouth clamped shut.

Okiedokie.

"Must you be so rude about it, though? We're doing this for Emmett, remember?"

Emmett? Oh. Of course. Doi. How could I _possibly_ forget him in this whole situation?

Did you by chance catch that ten ton sarcasm? Cause I did.

"Emmett? Whoa. Hold up a sec-"

"No. We're doing this for _you_. _We are all_ doing this for _you_, still doing it. However, whatever problems she's brought to our table has done nothing but complicate things."

"Yo. I'm standing right here." I say clearly...and in English, waving two fingers lightly as a show of attendance. And yet... they carry on, like I'm not standing here, frowning only five feet away from them. Now _that's_ rude.

Can't they carry their bitch fight somewhere else? And preferably _away_ from me.

"It wouldn't be so complicated if you would have let me do it my way but noooo you just had to stamp your feet and demand things _your_ way."

"My way? _My way!_ We've done nothing but do everything _your way_. How am _I_ to blame for wanting to live peacefully? How am _I_ to blame for want—"

"But this isn't about you now is it? I don't ask for much Rose. The least you could do is help. I just want to be happy. How is that shameful?"

Rosalie's eyes immediately soften, giving into the small voice and jarring words of her sister.

"Ugh. I hate when you say things like that. I do want you to be happy. But you're going about it the wrong way."

"How?"

"Well for starters your approach is all wrong. Be gentle, not casual. Be you. When you push all that crap aside that's all that should matter to her."

Alice smiled at her sister, nodding. "That was incredibly sensitive Rosalie." She said playfully, chuckling.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, her red lips curving up the slightest bit. "Yes well. You need work dear. That's all I'm going to say on the subject. For now, at least." She smirked.

The sisters smiled at each other as they finally settled their differences.

I coughed loudly.

Golden eyes shot to me.

I waved lamely. "Yeah. Uh still here. Can I go now too or are you guys gonna continue with the Hallmark moment? You don't need me for that right?"

Alice opened her mouth to reply when Rosalie moved aside and waved her hand at me dismissively.

"Yes please leave. Your sarcasm is reeking up the place."

"Thanks." I muttered dryly as I stepped by the blonde and quickly left the restroom.

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p>"Rosalie!"<p>

"Oh let her leave. I'll just talk to her later."

"You?" Alice looks at her sister, uncertain.

"What? I can be civil. Just because I don't like to, doesn't mean it's not possible."

Alice gives her a look.

"Oh stop it with your kittenish glares and get me out of this cesspool. It reeks in here."

Alice sighed and tugged her sister out of the rest room. "You better be nice to her Rose. I _mean_ it."

The blonde rolled her golden eyes. "I'll be sure to be on my _best behavior_." She mumbled and then made a mocking face behind her sister's back, sticking her tongue out.

Alice just smiled as they strolled down the empty hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Bella's POV:<strong>

So I wound up being extremely late to Crochet's class – unsurprisingly – and got reprimanded in front of the whole class and as if his attitude wasn't splendid enough, he made comments throughout the class period about how irresponsible I was and how being tardy can blah blah _blah_. I pretty much zoned out for most of it. Thankfully, there was a spot up front so I sat there instead of in the back with Emmett. Why no one would want to sit in front with Mr. Delightful simply astounds me.

I zoned out through the rest of my classes. Thankfully I had study hall right before gym – gym being my last class of the day – so I had a little down time. Homework was mostly reading so I could get that done easily before I went to bed tonight. The school's library was nice. Not as big as the one in Phoenix but adequate. And it was quiet too. Perfect place to lounge on comfy couches in the corner and not give a rat's ass about what you're doing or supposed to do.

Yeah I'm having that kinda day.

I sighed as golden eyes captured mine. At least she's not blocking the exit this time.

A moment later I hear, "Can we chat?"

"Can we not." I muttered. Yup. I was grouchy…whatever. The day is almost over. That's all I have to look forward to right now. Then I can get the hell out of here and pick up Mia and then we can watch Finding Nemo over and over and over again until my brain explodes. A simple joy that she loves….that I tolerate because I love her. Headaches and brain kablooeys aside.

"It will only take a moment of your time. Please? I promise I won't call you an idiot."

Oh well then by all means. Come on down. Take a load off.

"If that helps any." She adds with a small smile.

I don't reply to her. I really, really, _really_ want her to go away and leave me alone, but today isn't really working out for me so far.

My silence doesn't seem to deter her in the slightest as she continues.

"Anyways I wanted to apologize for my brother. Saturday night went from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds, nearly gave me whip lash."

"Which one?" I mumbled quietly to myself. There was a moment of silence. It was almost too long that I was afraid I had insulted her and she had just given up on conversation - not like there was much of one to begin with - and left. That is, until I heard a sigh from behind me and then the sound of the chair next to me scraping backwards, a silent pause, and then it was pulled closer to me.

"The ass, of course." She continued. "Listen, I don't know what you told Emmett and _whatever_ it is it's really none of our damn business." Got that right, sister. "But just so you'll know, Emmett wouldn't tell us what happened or what Edward was talking about. He refused to clue us in. Saying he made a promise and that was the end of it. We could ask all we wanted but it wasn't going to change the fact that he wasn't going to say anything."

She didn't add anything after that for a good while, which surprised me. I figured she'd gab my ear off to convince me to 'take Emmett back', so to speak. But she didn't. She just sat with me. And waited. For what exactly, I wasn't sure. But I found my steel tight muscles beginning to soften, if only minutely. I had to reinforce my spine after that night. It was painful and I hated every negative and self-deprecating truth that swam through my skull but it was the push I needed to slap myself out of it. I did what I do best. I picked up my own pieces, pricked my fingers in the process, licked the wounds clean in private and carried on for the next tomorrow. I mean, what else was I supposed to do?

She tilted her head a little as she watched me.

"He refused to tell _me_ even. And that's saying something, believe me."

I felt useless as she was telling me this. What did she want from me exactly? Besides me acting like everything's all hunky dory and to just magically forgive Emmett. Like I wasn't hurt either. As if the fraying fragile thread of trust I hold over people doesn't mean anything as it finally snapped that night. Well tough tits lady. We have woes here in the land of reality. They actually don't tickle, contrary to what others might tell you.

There was really no outward appearance that I was actually listening to her, though – unfortunately - she seemed persistent to tell me anyway. "He punched the fool in the face after you left if that means anything." She said somewhat hopefully. I winced slightly at the thought of violence. Even if Edweirdo was on the receiving end. I didn't say anything to her and kept still, as I watched my twitching fingers with an intense eye.

Her tone was soft. "It hurt Emmett when you left. I don't think I've ever seen him look quite so wretched." Oh my God- why is she telling me this? I clenched my eyes shut. I felt like I was swallowing rocks as I thought of the miserable look Emmett wore when he tried to keep me from leaving. Stop it. Stop that right now. Remember who the bad guys are in all of this. "But I _know_," She pressed gently. "I know Edward hurt him even worse for making you feel like you had to leave."

I felt immediately guilty. I hope Emmett didn't get in too much trouble because of me. He shouldn't have hit him. I'm not worth the hassle. Oh God. I can't even imagine the kind of punishment Mrs. Cullen dished out for assaulting another member of the family. If she takes fun things away for _years_, Emmett must have been sent outside to dig his own grave. I shuddered slightly at the thought.

It was silent for a few moments as I carefully processed what she just told me.

"He cares about you, ya know." She says softly, ducking her head a little as she tried to catch my eyes.

"Yeah. I know." I said, as I looked the other way, avoiding her eyes. Did he? After the last few years it becomes increasingly difficult imagining why anyone would. God. Is this what Jiminy Cricket sounds like on a bad day?

She looks at me for a moment more and then sighs, leaning back in her seat. "So why the avoidance? Why wouldn't you let him explain?"

I sighed and tensed my fingers together. "It has a lot to do with why I left. I don't do well with letting anyone in. It's hard enough finding people to connect with. It's a totally different matter all together when you find someone you feel you can share your secrets with." I looked at her then. Her eyes made me think she knew exactly what I meant. That maybe she understood the pain of letting someone in and always fearing the burn of letting them go. Emmett was getting in too deep and I was trusting him with some pretty heavy shit that I've had to carry by myself for so long. It scared the crap out of me that maybe the promise of relief was a fluke. That letting him carry a little bit of the burden too would ultimately blow up in my face. I was terrified and for whatever reason, I think she got it. Maybe. Or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see.

"Because he told." I whispered. "I trusted him and he fucking told."

"No he didn't." She said simply.

"What?" I finally looked at her,

Rosalie sighed and got quiet for a moment then looked me straight in the eye. "He didn't tell Edward."

My face immediately twisted in anger as I turned to her. "How can you say that? You heard—"

"I _heard_ Edward being Edward. One thing you should know without uncertainty when it comes to my dear asshole of a brother is that when he doesn't get what he wants he resorts to petulance and idiocy to get his way."

"He sounds swell." I mumbled dryly.

"Carlisle thinks so but he's really a big baby once you close your eyes and he opens his abnormally large mouth."

I nodded, hearing, but not commenting.

"Edward has ears everywhere. He heard about whatever you told Emmett but it wasn't _from_ _Emmett_."

I frowned at that, looking away from her. "Well that's creepy and totally horrifying."

"Welcome to our world." Rosalie smirked, her lips lifting at one end in obvious contempt.

"Then how'd he hear?" I asked curiously.

"You are inquisitive, aren't you?" She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Joy." She muttered.

"Well there has to be a logical answer for how he knew. I've only told _two other_ people in the past besides Emmett."

Yeah. So explain that. Rosalie tilted her head to the left for a moment before tilting it the other way and then looked at me.

"Well, after I slapped Emmett that night did you talk to him about 'it' then?" She used finger quotations.

"I—How'd you know that?" My eyes widened and I frowned.

She shrugged. "You just told me. Right now. Maybe Edward over heard some small detail and put two and two together and felt like it was something worth riling you up about?"

I blinked, my brow scrunching as I thought about it. I had only mentioned Mia's name once but its certainly plausible. "I…guess that could be it."

"Perfect. So you'll forgive Emmett and leave this whole messy business behind us." She made to get up, smoothing the front of her dress as she stood.

"No."

"Excuse me?" Her brow lifted, her once casual tone now stiff and obvious in her displeasure of my refusal to make this easy.

"I-I can't. I-I mean…" I sputtered. Why are my hands shaking? I just need a moment. Or an hour. Or 78. God…just let me heal from this first. Let me just think this through. "I just need a mental moment, okay? I know it's been a few days but it all happened so fast and it was enough to make me weary. And now you're telling me to just trust your word and accept Emmett's innocence… and I just-" I'm breathing unevenly and I stop my words, and focus on calming my hopeful heart. You'd think that forgiving him would be easy peazy, but it's not. Not when I've been let down so many times. The feelings are there now. And its hard not looking at them and not validating them as real.

Hell. Why was I telling her this? It's not like she cares.

Rosalie watched my conflicted expressions carefully before neatly sitting back down in her seat.

She's silent as she watches me.

"What are you so afraid of?" She asks softly.

I pale.

My heart sinks even lower in my chest at the question, my veins filling with ice as I think of the answer, and something akin to sickness fills my belly as the realization all comes together. Everything inside me locks together and screams at me to let go. To run. I swallow the acidic flavor rising up my throat and grimace at the burning taste as it goes down.

My heart was sunk deep but it raced to break free from its confines, desperately wanting to be anywhere but here.

If only.

I was losing it. With one question I felt my insides crumbling and my walls beginning to crack. Just the thought of answering…

I shut my eyes tight, wishing – at least for a moment – that I could banish my bad dreams simply by willing them away.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

It's not working. Oh God. My breathing rushes in and out of me, and I know this can't be healthy. I can't catch a breath long enough to let it soak in my lungs.

I clench my eyes tighter, the force of which is making colorful spots bloom behind my lids. Breathe. _Breathe_…damn it! You can't fall apart now!

I knew this feeling all too well, I hated it. It meant I was weak. It meant that I lost and he won. Again. Losing wasn't an option. I can't keep losing. I-I can't…I

"Bella? You're crying…" Its silent for who knows how long, and then, suddenly, I feel cool. All over. It takes me several minutes to realize that I'm being held. Strong, toned arms are wrapped around me and I'm…being held? I can't think anymore. I'm just…numb. There. A limbo state of being that I know only too well. I can hear what's happening but none of it makes sense.

"Bella? Bella, sweetie, can you hear me?" Suddenly a vague, soft voice seems even softer, careful. Hands are cradling my face, wiping my tears away. "I know that look. _Shhhit_…"

"…"

"-not only did I make you cry, now you're catatonic. Wonderful. What does this say about my people skills?"

"… …"

"-fuck. Fuck. _Fuck!_ Al and Em are going to kill me…"

"… …"

"Bella. Come on sweetheart, answer me. You're okay, Bella. Just come back."

"Rosalie! What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I mean, nothing on purpose."

"Then _what happened?_"

"Would you lower your voice? ...We were just talking. Everything was going smoothly it seemed and then…"

"What? And then _what?_"

"_This_ happened. She's not responding at all."

"How long has she been like this?"

"Five minutes or so."

"Or so?"

"I wasn't keeping count. Would you like me to time it next time? Maybe tally it up?"

"…Wait. Do you smell that?"

"If you mean the potent taste of fear that she's practically drenched in? Then yes. I can smell it just fine. Been making me jittery since she released it."

"What did you say to her?" A voice growled darkly.

"…I just asked her a question. I didn't see the harm in it. A little nosy yes, but nothing earth shattering."

"Obviously not."

"Look I'm sorry okay. She's just in shock. Whatever I asked must have triggered something. She's shutting down so her nerves can process."

"That still begs the question…what did you ask her?"

"At this point…I think it best we keep it between Bella and me. The less of her business we fan around, the better for her peace of mind I think."

A low threatening noise cut through the air.

"Unless _you_ want to explain why you know more than you should from a conversation that required only two people? Must we go through that angst again?"

"_Fine_. But you better make it right."

"I wasn't expecting anything differently, dear…"

My vision was swirling, melting together and fogging around the edges, the beautiful sounds began to blur and I tried weakly to keep them there, near me, but I couldn't. I'm so… tired…

Then everything went black…

…and he was there...waiting for me…

…

Does that mean he won?

* * *

><p><strong>Oooh...so not resolved per say but enlightening...sort of. ;)<strong>

**So which Cullen was talking with Rosalie? Emmett? Or Alice?...Hmmm...**

**Let me know how the chapter went or what you think of the story so far. They help believe or not. Its like a cyber sticky-note of happiness! XD**

**- Lil' Miss**


	9. I'll Go Away

**So my beta is all kinds of awesome but unfortunately she seems to be having some computer 'issues' at the moment. Lol. Anyways so if you happen to find any errors grammatically, blame me. I'll probably come back and re-edit it if Nikki becomes super anal about it. But ya know *shrug* unless it's so obvious and facepalm worthy *dramatic* I think we should be fine until Nikki sees this and scans for everything that's wrong with it. Lol. Gotta love her. So I hope the switching pov's isn't disjointed with the chapter as a whole but I like where it was going so I kept it. ;D**

**Thanks for all the love guys. Every word, alert, favorite means a lot and helps me love this story even more. **

**Oh. And for those of you wondering. The person who was talking with Rosalie at the end was Alice. Emmett is kinda sorta afraid of Rosalie to _ever_ talk to her like that. Alice, on the other hand…has no problems with it. ;) She so feisty.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>It's over,<em>

_don't you believe it's over._

_How did I get here without feeling anything?_

_Stay true, see it through they say._

_Tick tock, time just slips away._

_And when the air is clear_

_The way I go is the way I feel._

**I'll Go Away - Mndr**

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><p>"When is Carlisle getting here?" Alice exasperated impatiently.<p>

"For the fourth time, _after _his_ shift_." Rosalie was getting just as irritated having to repeat herself. "He said he couldn't get off work but he'd be here as soon as he could get someone to cover for him or until it ended."

"That could be hours from now." Alice paced. "What if something happens till then?"

"Then we'll just have to handle it _until then_. Carlisle gave us basic human medical training, remember?"

"Yes! In case a human was bleeding profusely or had stopped breathing! He never said anything about humans in a coma!"

"We don't know if she's in a coma, Alice." Rosalie stated evenly. "For all we know she just passed out. Maybe she's under a lot of stress. _Probably_ caused by Emmett,"

"Hey!"

Rosalie continued unperturbed. "Perhaps her new arrival in a strange town, we don't know what got her to this point. We don't know much about her anyway. So instead of jumping to the worst case scenario maybe we should just..." She churns words in her head to find something better to say and rolls her eyes when she comes up empty. "I don't know. Take a human breath. Let's just..." She growls at herself for not knowing what to say. She wasn't the best at having the right words to comfort people. Emmett, surprisingly, was better with words. He could slice tension with a well placed quip and it would be like watching a very violent car accident vanish into thin air. Which is why it was so frustrating watching that pesky human ignore Emmett and cutting any well worded explanation he may have had with a few whimpers and guarded looks. She was good, Rosalie would give her that. She was almost as good as the blonde herself at keeping people at a distance. Except the difference between her and the brunette - ya know besides pretty much _everything _- was that Rosalie knew when to back off completely and when to pull people closer. When forever is all that you can expect in this world, having warm company wasn't simply an option. Unless you were anti social like Edward or preferred solitude. But Rosalie liked neither and loathed the silence of not having anyone around. It would be a simple ending for her if she was left to herself. What would be the point of living - well, existing - if there was no one beside her?

Rosalie shook her head roughly, growling at herself and her inconvenient thoughts. This wasn't the time for introspection. She had shit to deal with.

"Maybe we should call again." Alice muttered to herself anxiously, her brow furrowed and uncertain, already whipping out her yellow cased cell phone.

Rosalie's heart broke a little for her sister.

"No Alice. He'll be here when he can okay? We've already tried that."

"Well I have to do _something, _Rose. I can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"But you have to." The blonde said softly. "I know it sucks hearing that but right now, like this, there's nothing any of us can do for Bella except wait and see what happens."

"Why are you being all concerned doctor-ey about all this?"

Rosalie hadn't a blasted clue. She had no idea what the fuck she was doing, honestly. She didn't know anything about human physiology or why the human brain reacted to things the way that it did. She only had what the many books in Carlisle's library to go on. And even that didn't feel like nearly enough to help. She wasn't Carlisle after all. She was playing all this by ear. But she'd be damned if she was going to be the one to fall apart too. Emmett and Alice were already sweating - figuratively anyway - she had to keep it together. For their sakes. And Bella's too.

"Well someone has to keep a level head. If not then I think I might throw _myself _out the window."

Alice sighed shakily, even though the action was unnecessary.

A beginning tune - similar to church bells - came alive from Alice's cell phone, and it was silenced immediately and held to her ear before the first note could finish.

"Carlisle? Please tell me you're only seconds away from here."

_"Unfortunately I'm afraid not, Alice. I'm trying to find someone to cover for me but it's proving difficult. There's something of a breakout sweeping the town. We're backed up and the hospital's using everyone on duty and off." _There was a pause and then a grieving sigh. "_I'm sorry darling."_His tone was sincere. There was quiet mumbling in the background, suggesting that he was talking to someone.

Alice closed her eyes, her silent heart plummeting to her feet.

_"Though..." _He said after a pause. "_I may know something that might help..."_

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Bella's POV:<strong>

My head is pounding. That's all I'm really sure of right now. It's like a constant echoing pulse that drags me under and pulls me, urges me downward, throbbing and beating like a distant heartbeat.

It feels so nice though. The stillness. The quiet.

But…something's… not right. I can feel it. Something happened but I'm scared to open my eyes. To find refuge elsewhere in a place that makes sense.

What happened?

The scary thing is, is that I have no freaking idea. This doesn't feel like a dream. I'm too aware...to present in my head….Is that where I am?

It's just…it feels so endless. The void. I can't help but feel that if I were to sink even deeper, give into this weightless tug that I would find no end. No resolution.

I'm scared but I'm numb all over. It's perplexing really. It's a weird sentiment when you're immune to feeling anything at all. But I can't hold onto a sensation long enough for it to spread through me, envelope my heart and linger there. Instead it dwindles, and feels too light to enforce any noticeable pressure. So I sit, blank and existing. God if I cared enough I would be mentally scolding myself at how emo I sounded.

Though, a distant part of me is disturbed at how little I feel right now. I feel empty. Hollow. Cold. Dead. Or at least those words implied that I could be.

Except the only thing that rang loudly, clearly was that I didn't care. Not really. This was my reprieve. I was getting a break. Finally, after all this time. All the tension inside seemed to just dissolve and disappear. My usually tense, hard muscles smoothed out like ironed fabric and lay still. Not even a twitch.

The numbness was familiar though. I had been like this years ago. I remember feeling nothing and reacting to very little for nearly a year after it happened the first time. It was like, I was stuck and the young naive girl I used to be had died right in front of me. Slaughtered and the memory stained with screams and harsh vulgarity. I was disgusting. I was haunted. I had fleeting moments during those grueling lifeless months after I gave him what he wanted - though what he took still wasn't enough for him. A flicker of something dangerous would light something inside me. My eyes would spark with something that looked like life again, though it was hateful or angry, it almost gave the illusion that I wasn't completely gone. It was at least something. Those moments were at least proof that I was still alive. That I could feel something other than cold inside.

Though any flicker of emotion I may have had became explosive after I found out I was pregnant. I had been feeling ill for a few days prior and I had thought - hoped - I just caught a bug or something. However, when my mother had caught me dry heaving in the toilet bowl one morning, she asked that embarrassing question that you never want your parents to even broach in the same 5 mile radius as you and I nearly died of embarrassment. "Are you having sex," she had asked. There was nothing casual about her tone, but there was nothing judgmental about it either as she leant against the doorframe of the bathroom. I don't think she even knew what to make of what my answer might be. I groaned and heaved again in the bowl, this time tasting bile. I sobbed a little in my throat, one I had hoped that she would misinterpret as another groan of displeasure from vomiting. I didn't like talking about my sex life - if you could even call it that. _Especially _with my own mother. We were pretty honest with each other about what went on in our lives. Though over the last couple of months it had been tense and we had drifted further from each other than we've ever gotten. And it broke my heart at that moment, as my heavy head hovered over the porcelain ring and wanting my mother desperately to make it stop. To make everything okay again. I made a strangled wrenching sound again and only sobbed harder when I felt my mother softly stroking my back up and down and holding the back of my hair, shushing me gently and humming something soft and sweet as I cried.

My mother was the one to go into the drug store for me. I stayed in the car, staring blankly out the window. My emotions were everywhere and the little piece of bread my mother practically force fed me was hoping to make another messy comeback. That thought alone had me crying. And I had no idea why. I was a mess and I was scared out of my mind. What if I am...no. I couldn't think that. I had to be strong. "Strong like an Amazon," my mother would tell me. I couldn't let this defeat me. It was probably just a bug. I'd be fine.

I had to be.

I bore a hole in the carpet, willing it to just light on fire or become less disgusting to look at. Stupid stains. I had given my mother the test, making her deal with the anticipation of watching the results reveal themselves. I couldn't do it. I willed my emotions to leave me but I had too many rattling inside at the moment to be successful. I was terrified, anxious, disgusted with myself, angry, exhausted, nauseous and completely broken at what my life was going to be like after the timer went off. After hours, it felt like, the ding from the kitchen timer that my mother had set went off and my heart raced even faster, making me sick all over again. My mother looked at me. As if wanting to hold onto the last few minutes of me still being her little girl before her little girl had to grow up. If the results ended up being less than satisfactory she wanted to keep this moment and all the moments we've had together with her. At least for a little longer. I cried harder as she prolonged the wait. She pursed her lips, rubbing them together as she looked at me.

"You and me, okay? You and me. Always." Her eyes never left mine as she picked the plastic strip from the counter, motioning with her other hand between the two of us. I blinked clingy tears from my eyes and nodded weakly. Though I was miles away from comforted at that point.

_Just get it over with mom_, I had thought. Even though I still didn't want to know. I was conflicted. Obviously.

Eventually she ended my suffering.

The first thing I did when my mother hesitantly brought the test to the level of her eye, reading me the results of the pregnancy test with such a clinical disposition, was _scream_. I howled my anguish till my voice became hoarse and curled into a ball on the floor. My mother - bless her heart - was wrapped around me in an instant, her body covering over my shaking, sobbing form as if trying to protect me from the remaining evils of the world. But it didn't work. No matter how tightly I clung to her, how small I made myself in her arms, I was still pregnant and I was still only 15. At that point my life as I knew it then was pretty much over. There was no studying abroad in the many wonderful places in Europe that I had only read about- dreamed about going to. Any dreams of - though stupid because they would have never happened anyway - of being a fancy shmancy, graceful ballerina were gone. Becoming a kickass astronaut just became a bazillion times harder now. And graduating high school seemed like a hell of a lot further to reach than it seemed a week ago. Whatever I could have done with my life - glamorous or not - became out of my reach and out of my sight in an instant. I grieved at the chances that weren't mine anymore, that had slipped out from under me. I mourned the innocence I had lost and the little girl I used to be...she was such a nice girl too.

My mother had never actually met my 'boyfriend' before. I had always made excuses of why she couldn't meet him yet. Lame ones but they evaded her dangerous curiosity. But she was still stubborn. So when she insisted on meeting him after finding out I was pregnant I was more than hesitant. I didn't want my mother anywhere near him. I had a horrible feeling of what would happen to her if I told her exactly what our 'relationship' was like. He was secretive at his best of times and downright soulless at his worse. I couldn't subject my poor mother to even a 'meet and greet' just to quell her growing and anxious curiosity. I knew her reasons for wanting to meet him. But the reality was - _is _- that I'm ashamed of Mia's father. Of who I let myself feel things for. He was a monster and it wasn't until a month or so into our relationship that I figured it out for myself. He was gorgeous. Charming. Smart. Wealthy. Cultured. Everything that I'm not. And he wanted me. For some unknown reason this 18 year old high school senior, who could have any girl eating out of the palm of his hand and off his designer shoes, wanted me, boring, awkward, plain Isabella Swan. I was suspicious at first. He had been watching me like he was studying something important and crucial to mankind for a week before he finally made his move. Like an anthropologist on the latest historical finding, meticulous but determined in finding the answers. So I was skeptical. Why was I suddenly so terrific to take an interest in? Though he was persistent in talking with me and indulging in conversation, so, that's where it started. In the middle of the hallways as the rest of our peers gawked and gossiped over the resident 'popular' kid's sudden interest in the resident 'loser'. I wondered that exact thing myself but he seemed so sweet and genuine in wanting to get to know me so I gave in and let whatever might happen, happen. And when he came up to me one day as I was stepping out of my English class and he asked me out? I said yes. And then...well...the rest I don't like to think about for too long. Or at all.

I wanted so badly to hate him as I stared gloomily at the positive sign on the test strip. But I couldn't. I was angry, sure. But not hateful at him. Just myself. I had let it get this far. I had said yes to his propositions and nodded when he asked for sex as we were making out one day. In the end… this was my fault. My fault.

After so many painful attempts he had finally broken me. He never used a condom when we were together and I had feared that this would happen, but there was no arguing with him unless I wanted to come home with bruised ribs and a sprained wrist. He had always treated me like I was disposable and once I had discovered I was pregnant I had hoped that he would feel just as strongly and finally throw me away and move on. That was my twelfth mistake so far. He was disturbingly chipper at the news; suddenly he had made a complete 180. He doted on me, complimented my hair, whether I had bothered to do it that day or not. He bought me maternity clothes and baby things. He fussed over me and bought me these special vitamins that were supposed to stimulate the fetus - whatever that meant - and insure healthy development. I had questioned him on it - wanting to know exactly what I was putting into my body and offering my unborn child - but I knew I had asked the wrong thing when his eyes became cold and hard like so many times before. That's when I knew it was an act. The charming charade after he found out I was pregnant was just that. I had longed to hope that he was sorry for his treatment of me. Stupid. I know. Blame my naivety. My youth, whatever you must. Or blame that I just wanted to be treated right once again. He could be so charming when he wanted to be. When he really wanted something he was downright irresistible. And he had wanted me. Badly. I lasted 4 weeks before he began pushing for sex. I had never had a boyfriend or anyone romantically before so the urge to abstain from sex and refuse the only person that had shown an interest - romantically or otherwise - wasn't important anymore and became harder to do every time he would whisper in my ear how beautiful he thought I was. I was young. And I thought I was in love and loved being loved. So sue me.

Though, the 9 months leading up to Mia's first shriek of hello to the world in the delivery room was another hell I wasn't expecting. That's when it started getting weird. And then I met his family. His weird ass, filthy rich, stuck up, cruel family. They hated me. But loved whatever new being I was nurturing inside me. Their interest in my child was of course expected if they didn't completely disown their son after finding out he had gotten a girl pregnant. But it was...a little more interest than I was comfortable with. Though, the look in their eyes, the fake sincerity and the wolfish grins on their faces made me think twice about denying them. So I grudgingly shrugged off my anxiety and smiled pleasantly at whatever his bitch of a mother had to say about this baby thing and that.

I would soon regret ever doubting my gut in the matter…

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p>"Emmett's back. Open the window." Alice softly instructed, from her perch on the side of the bed, her soft gaze unwavering from the unconscious brunette as her fingers twitched to gently run them through silky locks. Rosalie did as she was told - for once - and parted the curtains and slid up the window all in a matter of seconds.<p>

"Rush delivery." Emmett announced as he climbed through the window, sounding much more cheerful than he had a few minutes ago, when he had offered to run to the hospital. Now that he had a hopeful solution to wake Bella up, he didn't feel quite so helpless to fix the situation his friend was in.

Though they still didn't know if it would actually work, but he didn't like thinking of that particular 'what if' for too long. It only made his sudden enthusiasm deflate.

"So now what? We just sprinkle this on her, chant Kumbaya and presto change-o she's up and at 'em?

"Its smelling salt, not holy water, you idiot."

"Thanks for the clarification." Emmett muttered dryly as he handed over the small clear vial to the blonde.

Rosalie took it and made her way over to the bed. "Alice?" No response. "Alice, would you be a dear, and go fetch me a towel from one of the cupboards in the hallway?" Alice blinked her eyes away from the brunette and looked at her sister, bemused.

"May I ask why?"

It was a legitimate question, only Rosalie didn't have an answer. She merely needed Alice to move out of the way so she could administer the salt. If Alice felt useful than maybe she would be more inclined to leave Bella's side. Though, would she, was the real question.

"Please? Would you just go grab one?" Rose asked nicely, sweetly.

Alice quirked a perfect eyebrow at her for a moment, eyeing her sister's innocent smile suspiciously, and then got up - though reluctantly - and flitted out of the room. The next second she was back, deep purple towel in hand and growling at her sister, who had taken _her _place at Bella's side.

"Calm yourself will you?" Was Rosalie's response to the irate noise coming from her usually happy go lucky 'sister'. "I just want this done right. If she doesn't wake up immediately I know you'll start panicking." Alice growled lowly at the insinuation that she wouldn't be as successful at awakening Bella. "Relax. I'm not going to put the moves on your beloved." Rosalie smirked.

"Do you even need the towel?" Alice grumbled, flinging the now useless item on the oak rocking chair in the corner of the room.

Rosalie's lips quirked up the slightest bit, amused, though Alice didn't need to see it to know that her sister was.

"Not now anyway." Rosalie replied as she took out the salts from her dress pocket and…

"Hey. Why do you get to be all cool with the magic potion?" Emmett asked. "Just because Alice here's buzzing worse than a single woman's vibrator doesn't mean I'm not able to perform." Rosalie just looked at him. She didn't know what was worse, now having mental possession of that not so tacky image – though true. Alice had it bad – or having to juggle responding to that statement logically and maturely _or_ giving into her normal instincts and slapping the boy for his utter lack of a filter.

The blonde rolled her eyes, and decided an IOU was just as good and remained on the task at hand.

"Need I remind you what happened the last time _you _tried to play doctor?

There was silence.

Rosalie nodded, "Yeah uh-huh. I think I got this one." Rosalie began reaching her hand forward to Bella.

"Aw. But I wanna do it." Emmett whined. Rosalie sighed and retracted her hand.

Slapping was sounding more and more fun as she thought about it.

"Must you act like an overly large child? It's just smelling salt. It's not a button on an elevator. So chill the fuck out. Go ...stand in a corner or something." She waved her hand in indication to a wall. _Any _wall.

"Don't wanna, and why can't I be the one to wake her up?"

"Because you'll most likely squeeze the little thing to bits in your excitement before she's had a chance to take a whiff."

There was a deep huff and a muttered, "Will not."

Rosalie sighed. "A child. I swear.

"Why isn't she waking up? It's been almost an hour."

Rosalie sighed loudly. At this rate the poor girl was never going to wake up if these people kept Rosalie distracted with their incessant prattling.

"Alice calm down all right. Whatever she went through must have been severe. It's only natural to want to distance yourself from it. Maybe this was her body's only way to do that for her. Her body can't tell the difference from being here, in the present, and there in whatever horrible moment she was thinking about."

Alice gave her an odd look. "You've been reading Carlisle's psych books again, haven't you?"

"Maybe." Rosalie shrugged. "But I do know what I'm talking about Al. She's damaged. I know a broken spirit when I see it. I saw that look in her eyes many times in the mirror before when I was human."

"Rosalie..."

The blonde held up her hand. "Not the time for a mushy moment okay? I'm just telling it like it is. Granted I can't say exactly what she's been through word for word but...unfortunately… I think I can identify. She's been abused in some way. And she's afraid. That's pretty much all I need to know."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing. That's all up to Bella here. If she doesn't want our help, _don't push_. She'll only be even more distant and distrustful if we force ourselves on her. It's no wonder she's been so resistant. If I recall, I was the same way for a good long while..." Rosalie rolled her eyes at herself. "Ugh I'm thinking about myself again. That's not what we're here for. Alice hand me that water, will you? ...thanks...now. Go sit the fuck down before I throw you out the window. Your pacing is making me dizzy."

"You can't get dizzy."

She pointed at Alice and jerked her finger at the rocking chair. "Shut it and park it."

"...hmph." Plop. Alice crossed her arms.

"Children. All of you." The blonde shook her head. If a head ache were possible she'd be having an aneurysm by now. "Okay. Everyone shut up and _don't_ _move_. The last thing we need is to startle her when she wakes up."

"Bossy pants." Someone mumbled. Though she ignored it. Now she knew how Emse felt.

"Shh!"

A few minutes passed as Bella breathed in the silent fumes from the vial. Her nose began to twitch and the Cullens waited eagerly for another reaction, their bodies leaning in closer in anticipation.

Bella scrunched her brow – adorably in Alice's opinion – and wiggled her nose as she breathed in the vapors.

"Oh shit! Her eyes are opening. Did you see that? She's waking up!"

"Yes. I have eyes Emmett." Rosalie muttered.

Alice just grinned.

"Uuuugh," Bella groaned. Emmett squealed in manly delight while Alice was trying valiantly to keep herself from hugging the living daylights out of the groaning brunette. So she lunged at Emmett in her excitement instead.

Rosalie smiled and held the vial close to her nose. Just in case she suddenly relapsed or something. Humans were weird.

Butterfly lashes fluttered and then opened, lids held at half mast.

Brown eyes blinked and then lazily swept from one beautiful person to the other, believing them angels.

"Oh crap. Am I dead?" She asked, sounding annoyed.

The angels only smiled wider in response.

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><p><strong>Hope Bella explained the back story okay without it seeming too out there. I'm not too good with relaying previous information like that. But...eh. It'll do. Nikki's gonna kill me when she sees this but I'm waaay too impatient. Let me know if the switching POV thing is turning out to be a hit and miss and you rather hear from only Bella. OR maybe you liked it and didn't mind it. Let me know if its working. Hopefully some MiaBella shenanigans in the next chapter. ;D**

**Question time!****: Do you think _Bella_ might be 'special'? And what's up with her baby daddy from hell?**

**-Lil' Miss**


	10. Sleep On Fire

**I'm not really feeling this chapter. I think my muse was off smoking crack and being incredibly unhelpful as I tried to write this. I wrote and re-wrote this too many times to count that I'm just praying it flows decent enough. Either way I'm just happy I finished it and I can move things along.**

**Definitely not loving this chapter but there is one part that I did enjoy writing. Mia makes her appearance in this one and of course any scene with her in it is enjoyable. Its like a law. So there's that at least. ;D With any luck that'll give you some hope.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"Nonono Bella don't close your eyes. You gotta wake up sweetie."<p>

"Mmmaambraggh..."

"What she say?"

"No clue."

"Bella? Bella wake up honey." Alice gently nudged her in the arm but Bella continued to lay still.

"Someone poke her." Emmett suddenly suggests.

Rosalie's brow scrunches up delicately. "How is poking her going to help?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. At least it's something right. Just keep poking her till she gets annoyed and flails you away or something."

She squinted her eyes shaking her head slightly, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing and that someone had actually voiced it like the idea held merit. "...you're a moron. That's got to be the stupidest thing I've _ever _heard come out of your mouth."

"I'm just a man, Rose. Don't start showering me with well deserved compliments until we actually put my plan into action." He grinned, knowing his comments would rattle her. And loving it a little _too _much.

"Fine then. _You _do it."

"Oh well that's—wait what? Why do I have to be the one to poke her? She's mad at me remember?"

"Well it was _your_ _brilliant_ idea, Emmy Bear." She mentioned sweetly. "I figured you'd want your _well deserved _satisfaction when it works…unless you're realizing how incredibly moronic it is that poking dear Bella here with a stick would rouse her better than any actual medical aid would."

"Yeah but Carlisle said that it _might _work-"

"Well at least she's mumbling and slurring incoherently. She sure wasn't doing that before. So at least we know she's not dead."

"Oh gee. I'm so reassured." The man-child muttered sarcastically.

"Oh shut it Emmett." Rosalie snapped. "At least it's something. I don't see you coming up with any _sharp _ideas."

"But I just-"

"Would you two just stop arguing! You're bitching is not helping."

"...she started it." Emmett pointed a finger to Rosalie accusingly.

"One more petulant word, big boy. Just one."

"Ugh. Seriously. Cut it out guys. I'm really starting to worry here." Alice said worriedly as she began weathering her bottom lip with her teeth.

It grew silent.

"She'll be _fine_ Alice."

"But we don't know that. Hell! _I_ don't even know that for sure. I can't even get a glimpse of her. Her future is so foggy and hard to wade through."

"What's that mean?" The only male in the room wonders aloud.

"Alice, try and calm down sweetheart. I know that seems impossible right now but just try. We'll figure this out, alright?"

"How? We've tried everything we can think of short of crashing two giant symbols on either side of her head."

"Well that's a thought." The blonde offered pleasantly.

"Rosalie." Alice warned.

"You're right. That would never work." She said with a smile, trying for a shot at breaking the nervous tension in the air like Emmett was so famous for. It didn't measure up though. Not even close.

"Rosy, stop it." Alice all but whined. "I'm being serious here."

"I know Al." Rosalie sighed. "I think …I may have an idea that might work – and _no_ we're not poking her." She said loud enough to indicate that she was talking to Emmett as she was looking at Alice.

Emmett's large shoulders slumped. "Aw."

Emmett was sad and ignored.

"What is it?"

"Jasper."

"Jasper? What could he do?"

"Jolt her." The blonde said simply.

"I'm not following."

"What if we made him influence adrenaline or a small dose of energy in her. The total opposite of his usual calming effect. And he'll hopefully rouse her from her stubborn stupor."

"Uh well… its certainly an interesting approach."

"Yes and the only promising one we have so far. It could work."

"Will Jasper be able to handle it you think?"

"He's done so well with Mia downstairs. We know he's gone hunting before he came here. _And_ he's done nothing but show improvement over the years. He's only cautious out of habit. Plus, we're all here if on the off chance he does become overwhelmed, we can stop him."

"I don't know."

"If it'll help I think we should go for it." Emmett said.

Rosalie nodded.

Alice hesitated but nodded reluctantly. "If it'll help." She repeated.

"We won't know until we try."

"So apparently I'm needed." Jasper said and entered the room, having heard everything from downstairs.

"Where's Mia?" Rosalie asked, her voice nearly rising in suspicion.

"I made her feel a tad sleepy. She's passed out in her crib and jus' a snorin' away."

"Okay. You think you can do it?"

"I'm sure I can try. Won't be too hard. Though, I advise all of you to hold your ground. Wouldn't want Alice and Mammoth here jumpin' like jack rabbits."

"Ha ha _ha_." Emmett replied sarcastically.

"You know its true."

"Whatever."

Jasper smiled easily and turned his sights on the barely-conscious-but-not-completely-unconscious brunette on the bed.

"Here goes…" The male blonde then relaxed his stance and concentrated. He figured slow and steady would be the best approach.

It wasn't immediate at first. But it was there. A low hum that grew upon each second. It made Bella's nerves twitch and her bones shake. Her brow grew slick with sweat and beads of perspiration would trickle down her temple and soon be followed by another. Her heart was hammering with life, and urging her to listen. 'Move,' it said. She wanted desperately to listen, to emerge from all these scarred images swirling around her, haunting her. But try as she might the urge just wasn't prominent enough to inspire even a mental step forward. It tried though, it didn't rush, didn't force. It was like it was coaxing her on her own. Nudging her along. After a discernable amount of time with no progress it was almost like she was having a minor heat stroke. Her muscles twitched even more, begging for activity.

Bella didn't move voluntarily however.

Ironically, it wasn't as good a listener either. The hum only got stronger. 'Move now!' It demanded.

A finger twitched.

Then it escalated without warning. Her body was fighting with her and it became a constant and tiring push and pull. An incessant drag and heave. 'Let's go this way! – No I wanna go this way dammit!'

It screamed at her for one direction but then her brain immediately fought to pull the other way. Wanting her prone and lax.

Her heart crashed in her chest. The thunderous muscle almost bruising her ribcage. Her brain flashed with color. Forcing her to see all of its vibrancy and complexions and her body responded with little spasms all over.

A fist clenched.

Flashes of birds and bats flew in the back of her mind. Pure white feathers fluttered and danced in the air as red droplets bled from the dark clouds above. A twisted message she was meant to understand there but not discerning for the life of her.

A loud, long wail seemed to echo in her skull. Where was it coming from? It sounded like a dying animal. A harsh shiver tore through her and she was suddenly engulfed in heat. Everywhere.

Then Bella bolted upright with a strangled scream. Her chest heaved and hoed with large lungfuls of air that never seemed to be enough. Her pants now ragged and her voice squeaking and cracking at times. "Fuck! What the _fuck_?" Her brain reeled at the sudden volume in the room and it took her second to realize that it was in fact her voice. She wondered vaguely when her voice had ever sounded so gravelly in her life. It was almost primal.

Her eyes burned, though not from salty tears and she roughly rubbed them nearly raw with the heels of her hands. Finding that this wasn't doing anything for her sudden throbbing migraine she clenched them shut until spots exploded and danced behind her eye lids and then wrenched them open, blinking furiously.

"Bella?" The brunette in question snapped her head to the side instantly, her eyes wide and alert.

"Bella. Everything's okay. You're safe at home and everything okay." Alice said reassuringly. "…isn't it Jasper?" She added through clenched teeth.

"I uh—yeah. Everything's wonderful. Not weird at all."

Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett ignored their brother.

"Did you have to be _that_ successful?" Alice whispered in a low voice. Bella wouldn't be able to hear it.

Jasper held up a slightly defensive stance as all his siblings glared at him. "Honestly I have no idea what that just was. Most of that wasn't even me. I swear."

"What? What the hell does that-"

"Whats going…why am I…_ugh_…my head…" Bella palmed her temples groaning softly.

"Bella?"

* * *

><p><strong>.oOo.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Bella's POV:<strong>

There was that soft voice again. Calling me. Though, I could barely focus long enough to answer. God. My head was _pounding_. What was that? I'm still having hot flashes. Ugh. At least they're better than they were. Damn. Does anyone else feel like running a marathon right now? I feel like I could run for miles and never get tired. Gosh darn it I want a cigarette. I just want to chain smoke for an hour and then book it to Seattle. Fuck!

Then of course there's the ever pleasant feeling like my head is going to suddenly implode. Speaking of pleasant feelings...ew. Why am I drenched? Gah. I'm sweating worse than an NBA player. That is so nasty.

"Bella are you alright? ...okay stupid question...I-" I interrupt whatever voice is speaking before I can swallow my word vomit.

"Am I dead? Fuck. If this is what heaven feels like I'm _so_ suing." I grunted. There was chuckling and an amused murmur that I couldn't make out. I blink.

That's when I realized that people – _four beautiful_ people - were staring at me like I was the most fascinating thing they had ever seen. Oh my _God_ and I'm sweating!

Without thinking I wrap my arms around myself. Yeah. Like that's going to make it all better and not even more obvious.

"Hey what's with the staring? What's going on? And not too loud."

The four of them looked at each other, seeing who would be the one to answer first. When they all looked to Alice I became nervous. They weren't answering fast enough.

"Seriously. Answers would be great right about now." I said as my fingers drummed incessantly on my forearm. The four seemed to be having some weird adopted sibling mind link convo right in front of me. It lasted for a good minute in a half before I got really impatient. I settled back carefully against my headboard and watched. My fingers were practically tap dancing sporadically.

"Okay can someone _please_ tell me why you're all here? In my room and where -" I shot up in bed, making the world twirl violently around me. Unngh. _God_…hnngg...w-where's Mia?

Emmett reached for my arm, helping me steady my posture as I swayed. "Whoa there little lady. Easy does it. We can't have you falling for me again now can we?"

"Shut the fuck up Emmett." I grit out through the pain, the throbs only seemed to echo louder as I clenched my teeth tightly. Where's my daughter? "Where's Mia?"

"Uh," He shakes his head at the sudden hostile tone in my voice and responds easily enough. "Charlie picked her up from daycare a little while ago and dropped her off. She's sleeping in her bed slash crib hybrid thingy." My shoulders relaxed only the slightest bit and I sighed in releif. "Charlie said he had to clear up a few things at the station but that he should be home early from work to check up on you. He was really worried."

"No need. See? All good and able." I pursed my lips around a whimper as Emmett urged me back against the headboard. Dammit.

"You weren't singing that song ten minutes ago when you were drooling on your pillow case." Rosalie muttered under her breath. Alice elbowed her and gave her sideways look that clearly spoke, "cut it out or I'll cut you myself."

Don't think I didn't notice that they hadn't answered my question.

"But I'm fine now. So there's no need to worry about anything." My voice had an unpleasant edge to it. So unlike me. Oi. This headache was giving me mood swings.

"Why are you here? What happened?" I'd like details please.

Alice looked at me for only a few seconds until she deemed it appropriate to end my suffering and then filled me in. She told me about my chat with Rosalie. The content of which implying Edward being a major douchebag was fully agreed upon by everyone in the room.

Huh. Well I wasn't expecting that.

Then when she told me what happened after our chat – I guess my passing out was the end of the conversation. I still can't believe I did that.

I just stared at them blankly. "I blacked out?" I asked them a third time.

They nodded.

"Seriously?"

More nodding. Rosalie was beginning to look irritated at my questioning. Okay maybe I should stop asking. Just a thought.

I weakly cradled my head in my palm as I carefully sat up a little more, my elbow resting against my knee. "Well that's mighty embarrassing. Please tell me I didn't drool."

"You're taking this awfully well." Alice replied bemused.

"Actually," I'm so mortified I'm pretty much in the denial phase of coping with this new information. "I'm just hoping that this is a horrible nightmare and that I'll wake up any minute." Cause ya know…the thought of me passing out like that is so embarrassing. This has to be some cruel nightmare. Or a mean drug trip. "Hopefully very, very soon." Also these kinds of things aren't new to me. Like at all. Though, I don't remember it ever happening quite like that. A numbing episode and then followed quickly by a fainting spell all in one go? Uncommon for me.

"Well its not. Hate to burst your overdramatic bubble and God you are _still _an idiot."

"Rosalie please. Enough."

Rosalie opened her mouth to say something else but one nasty look from Alice and she clamped her mouth shut and glowered at her littlest sister.

"Well she is. She won't even accept what we _all _already know? If that's not mental I don't know what is. If you don't want to hear the honest truth that's fine."

"Certainly not your flavor of it." Alice spat lowly.

Emmett grinned amusedly and sidled up between them, throwing an arm over each of their shoulders."Ladies ladies! Can't this cat fight wait until _later_? Preferably when there's a large vat of pudding nearby for you to wrestle in? Or when we don't have a very woozy looking Bella holding her head like its going to explode."

It's true. It does feel like that.

Imploding. Exploding. Either sounds painful.

Ugh. My head _aches_.

Whoa... now I feel kinda dizzy. Should the world be this spinny? My vision was beginning to go in and out and I noticed - for an unexplainable number of times - that my head was pounding even worse each minute that passed.

Uuugh…I don't feel like running anymore. Someone chop my head off first and then we'll talk.

"Can someone hand me a pain pill from my nightstand? It should be on the right side shoved all the way in the back of the drawer." I'm always paranoid that Mia's gonna get curious and poke around in there and find them. Since I can't baby proof everything and the door sticks every time you want to open the sucker I leave it alone and pray that it'll be enough. I wouldn't put it past her to be able to open the child twist lock on the bottle so 'shove and shut' is pretty much my only method.

Jasper moves to open the drawer…

"Is that wise?" Rosalie suddenly says wearily. "I mean we don't rightly know what's actually wrong with her. What if the pills make it worse?"

Nothing can possibly make this headache worse. Well...maybe internal bleeding but I'm sure nothing's leaking inside me...okay that didn't come out right.

"Okay I vote no on medication." Rosalie says. "All in agreement?" Alice bites her lip and looks from me, to Rosalie, and back again. Her hand hesitantly reaches up. What? Emmett's large hand climbs up alongside Alice's and Rosalie's. Were they seriously voting? Jasper looks at me sympathetically. His hand stays down. "Okay. So no pills for Bella until—"

The hell?

"Hey. Don't I get a vote? It's _my _brain." And seriously it's only a few pain meds, really. It's not like I'm gonna start frothing at the mouth and convulsing here people. Why are they so damn paranoid for? They act like they have no idea what two 200mg of Advil can actually do to a person. I'm not gonna blow up. Or die...I hope. Oh gee now I'm second guessing Advil's credibility. Oh my achy brakey brain.

"You can. Won't do you any good. Your brain hasn't had the best reputation of acting accordingly."

"Jerks. Well I vote hell yes on some Advil."

"Too bad."

"Hey!-ow. Owowow...ugh. That came out _way _too loud." I whisper as I clutch my ringing head. "Its _my_ fucking health we're talking about here. Unless I'm brain dead or well... _dead_ dead, the only one doping my ass up or _refusing_ to dope my ass is _me_." I argued.

"You done yet?" Rosalie replied unimpressed.

I glared at her, unfortunately the action wasn't as convincing as I would have liked. Probably because I kept wincing every time I scrunched my forehead.

"Maybe we should give her something." Emmett says, his expression sympathetic.

There's an idea. A very merciful idea.

"We should really wait for Carlisle before we make that decision." Rosalie says. Ooh you irritate me. "He would know the right procedure or whatever for dealing with this."

"Well where is this invisible gentleman because I wanna get self medicated and like soon. Mucho rapido."

Emmett frowned at my demanding tone. "You're grouchy post coma. And suddenly bilingual. How did I not know this?"

"You're mean. And I lived in Phoenix for most of my life. Ergo I picked up a few things. Phoenix is the second largest burrito capital of the world ya know? "

"I thought that was Cuba?

"Okay seventh largest."

"That's not really large."

"Shut your face." I muttered grumpily.

"And your barbs are _weak_." Emmett teased.

Fuck. You.

He chuckled as he turned to Rosalie and Alice. "Damn she really isn't feeling well. Maybe we _should_ drug her. It seems serious."

I point my thumb in his direction as I turned my throbbing head in my palm and looked at them dryly. "I'm with the big guy."

"No we are not drugging her. No matter how much she whines and slurs and constantly annoys." Rosalie said firmly.

I look to Emmett. "I take it back. She's meaner."

"We know." said Alice and Emmett in unison.

"Standing right here."

"We know." They say.

"Do you think she smells fear?" I asked Emmett in a hushed voice since he was closer to my side of the bed.

He grins almost knowingly. "Totally."

"Well then it was nice knowing you for a week dude. Even if I totally thought you were a lying douchebag over the weekend."

"Yeah uh..." His brow scrunches. "Thanks. You too?"

"Oh for fucks sake someone hand me a mallet so I can just knock her unconscious myself. She can just sleep it off till Carlisle gets here." She smirks, seeming pleased at the thought. "Now there's a sedative I can agree to."

At that I had a flash back of the Grinch's use of the word 'sedative'. I paled.

"Keep her away from me." I side whispered to Emmett.

He salutes and smirks. "Gotcha covered Bellster."

I don't know what possessed me but I smiled softly at the simple teasing admission. It was like all that bullshit before hadn't happened and we were back to the way it was before Edward and his unattractive word vomit.

Does that mean I've forgiven him? I'm not sure yet. It certainly seems that way though. Which is odd. When it comes to Mia in any form I'm not usually that forgiving.

Like at all. But I don't think I'm quite there yet.

"Can you control your homicidal urges for _five seconds_? We went through all that trouble to wake her up. We are _not_ swishing her head with a hammer."

"What trouble?" They hadn't explained anything about how I woke up. Just that I did.

"Nothing. Its nothing."

"No. Really. Tell me."

Alice didn't reply, her expression torn.

"Why? I've been nothing but shitty to you all since game night! Why would you still help me?" It doesn't make sense. I'm not used to this…whatever _this_is.

There was a disgruntled sigh.

I looked over to Rosalie, who looked really irritated.

"I swear she's not drugged. She's just really this stupid."

"Rosalie!"

The blonde turned her head and looked at her sister with a look of pure indignation. "What? I'm giving my honest opinion okay." She turns away from Alice still looking annoyed and glares at me. "I get the need to be on the defensive had we just showed up out of the blue but for God's sake! We looked after you and-"

"I didn't ask you too." I said evenly, cutting her off. Something flashed in her eyes, as her lips flattened into a ruby red line and I almost regretted my words. Almost. I couldn't be afraid of her, I told myself. No matter how intimidating she was with her eye twitching like that.

"Well we did. You really weren't in the best state to be asking anything of anyone, denial or otherwise, so, out of the goodness of our hearts we brought you home. Tended to your every unconscious whim and fancy: pillows, blankets, whatever seemed appropriate and helped you wake up, lest your sudden fainting spell bloomed into an actual state of catatonia..." I watched as every muscle in her face hardened. "So I say with _restrained _but justified hostility that you're…fucking. Welcome."

My brow twitched as I took note of how 'restrained' her hostility was.

Ah.

My eyes slowly softened as I watched from one sincere face to the next as they in turn eyed my response carefully.

I'm not used to _this_. People going out of their way to help me. Besides my mom when she had seen me at my worst. But those times I just didn't care anymore. I was well and truly past the point of giving a fuck.

I barely know these people. I know Emmett more than anyone else in this room but I still feel under educated as far as knowing the ins and outs of what makes Emmett... well Emmett.

This headache was making me irrationally grouchy at everyone.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I'm sorry for snapping...thanks I guess. Ya know. For helping and stuff. All of you."

They each give their own particular warm smile. Rosalie was more like a candle flicker. But it was there.

I open my mouth to beg for pain pills again but the sudden sound of pattering excited feet stop me. I look to Jasper curiously.

"I thought you said she was asleep?" I asked. Usually when she takes a nap she's conked out for hours. If what they say it accurate she couldn't have been asleep for more than a good hour or so.

"She…was." Jasper said, looking completely baffled.

I shrugged. "Well she's up now. You remembered to gate the stairs right?" I asked the male blonde firmly.

He looks away from the closed door. "Hmm. Oh yes I did. Tricky contraption."

"Yeah. I feel ya. Charlie hates that thing. But its serves its purpose."

There was a silence that followed as she must have stopped in front of the door, and then I smiled at the sound of the soft raps on the other side of the wooden door.

"Would you let her in please?" I said. My grin already growing. There's nothing quite as healing as wrapping my arms around my Mia.

Jasper goes to open the door and just like that it was a like a big ball of pent up energy came bolting across the room. I watch amused as she squished between Emmett and Alice – who were still a little shocked at Mia's loud entrance – and crawled up the bed like a pro.

Mia dove for me, not even caring that she was only a foot from me, making her collision a little jarring for my head. I didn't care though. Not enough to dislodge her. I hugged her to my front tightly. I felt like I hadn't seen her in forever.

Mia leaned her head up from my neck and looked at me, gripping my chin so she could have my full attention and holding my cheek in her little hand.

"Are you okay mommy? Jasper said you don't fee so good."

I looked up at Emmett and the lack of surprise on both Rosalie's and Alice's face. Either Emmett had indeed told them about Mia and me or they had come to the conclusion all on their own. Either way I couldn't bring myself to be concerned. I had my baby in my arms. That's really all that mattered right then.

I grinned at her, pulling her closer and hugging her in my arms as we laid down. "I am now Jelly bean. Were you a good girl for Jasper?"

She grinned excitedly as she pulled away enough to look up at me, but not by too much. "Yup! Did you know he wikes Finding Nemo too! But I didn't want to watch it without you." She gasped in excitement as she thought of something else worth mentioning, her eyes going wide and bright. "Oh and - and he watched Toy Story with me! He knows _all _the movie! I wike him. Can we keep him here so he can watch movies with me?" She asked seriously, her bouncing making the mattress squeak.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm, her happy smile making my heart warm.

"I don't know about that," I started and then trailed off. Her smile fell immediately and I felt like an ass. I rubbed her cheek tenderly as if catching imaginary tears. I sighed softly, knowing full well that there was no way I could refuse this girl anything. "Maybe we can visit and say hi. Okay?"

And just like that, her smile was back. Lighting up the room and making me feel less of an asshat. All I wanted to do was keep that beautiful smile there always. Normally I consider myself a realist but something as simple as making this little girl smile like that as much as possible can't possibly be impossible. Right?

Ah the twists and turns of parenting. She had me well and truly and completely curled around her finger. Darn me.

I smiled back at her and then kissed her nose, making her giggle. Forgetting myself and my surroundings, I chuckled and dove in to blow raspberries on her neck - she's so ticklish there its awesome - even as she turtled her neck into her slightly wrinkled watermelon pink polo shirt. I snorted at her efforts to conceal her neck from me and dove in for her cheeks instead.

I hadn't noticed how silent it was as I continued to blow raspberries on her cheek, making her squirm and shriek in delight. It wasn't until I was laughing joyously - and quite loudly - that I looked over slightly and saw us being watched.

Oh... right. People were here.

I coughed rather unconvincingly and forced my chuckles down my throat unsuccessfully. I straightened up slightly as well as I could while laying down, though very carefully. I was not trying for stubborn bravery anytime soon. That ship had sailed as soon as Mia had come barreling into my room calling my name. There's no lying or curving my words around Mia's use of the word "Mommy!" as she looked right at me.

I turned her in my arms so she was curled against my side and she could see the other's in the room. This is certainly a weird way to unveil something as big as being a teen mother but at this point it would be senseless to deny I was. This is usually the part where I would introduce people to Mia and vice versa, but after remembering the shit I made Emmett go through because of not wanting anyone knowing of Mia, it felt kind of misplaced and the whole ordeal also pointless. Because whether I liked it or not these people were going to know about my horribly concealed Mia-shaped secret anyway. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

I lift my hand and indicated to each person she didn't know.

"That's Emmett...Rosalie...and Alice." I pointed to each individual. She obviously already knew Jasper. Mia looked at me blankly, her expression saying, "And I should care because...?" I hiked an eyebrow as I looked at her. "Say hi Mia." My tone stressing the command.

Mia looked at me pleadingly, her eyes telling me clearly of her displeasure. She had just gotten comfortable why did she have to get up?

I could tell that she didn't want to leave my arms but I smiled encouragingly at her, nudging her up. "Don't be rude Mee." I'd have plenty of time to hug her later.

She let out an annoyed sigh and then nodded, scrunching her eyebrows in an over the top show of seriousness. Oh brother.

She crawled on the bed and then pushed herself up to her full height, standing a little taller than necessary to appear ...I don't know...more grown up I guess.

Where does she get this stuff? I scratched my head as I watched her with a soft smile. My child was an oddball but damn she was cute. I say that a lot huh? I smiled to myself and watch as she thrust out her hand to Emmett, wiggling the fingers slightly as if hoping she was doing this right. I cooed adoringly in my throat but said nothing as I watched them.

"Hewwo! My name is Mia Eh-weese Swan and I am three and a haff years owd and I wike ducks." I grinned proudly as she said that without falter. We had practiced our nice manners and what we are supposed to say when we meet someone new that's not scary and that Mommy knows but Mia doesn't. Not bad kid. I almost felt like clapping. Before she was always too shy or would get the words mixed up and it would come out like, "Hewwo. My name is Mia and my swan is three and ducks wike stuff." ...or something to that effect. It was so great watching my mom's new boyfriend digest that without pulling off 'constipation of a confused man' face.

Emmett bent down, one hand on his knee holding him up as he held out his other hand to Mia. His palm looked monstrous compared to hers, though his kind, warm smile overshadowed his hulking size. "Hello again Mia. I'm Emmett Cullen. I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance little lady." He said in an exaggerated southern drawl. I gave the moment a small smile as I watched.

Mia beamed at Emmett's introduction, seeming proud of herself for saying hello the right way.

"Hewwo!" She couldn't help but add. She seemed excited to meet these people which baffled me. She wasn't one to warm up to strangers so quickly. It was like she had been waiting for this moment for awhile and was practically bursting with joy that it was finally happening.

"Oh gosh she's adorable." Alice gushed softly next to Rosalie. For some reason I grinned even more proudly at that. Damn right she is.

"So adorable." Rosalie intoned as she watched the little girl grin smugly at the compliment. Yeah my little girl was not immune to praise at all. She took it and soaked it all up like a happy sponge. And giggled some more to get even more out of you.

The thing is, is that Mia knows she's cute which makes her all the more dangerous in my opinion. Sneaky little thing. She'll con you out of the very cookies in your hand if you're not careful.

She shook his hand some more, lifting and dropping it with both her little hands excitedly. "Do you wike ducks?" She asked eagerly.

Emmett hesitated at her earnestness, obviously not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Uh. I like Donald Duck a lot. Do you know who he is?"

Mia looked at him in wonder as she shook her head.

"Well he's this awesome sassy duck in a sailor shirt. He's really boss."

Mia tilted her head as she looked at him, suggesting she had no idea what he was talking about. She usually did that when she was confused about something. I smiled softly at her expression.

"Oh I loved him in the old days. He's not as cool as he used to be though. He was way better in the 30's." He rambled.

I arched an eyebrow at that but shrugged figuring he had saw some of the old cartoons online or something.

Mia tilted her head more, nearly laying it on her shoulder. I laughed quietly as I watched her.

"He's best friends with Mickey Mouse baby." I offered as I tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. Her neck straightened at that as she smiled again. She knew full well who he was. Her eyes nearly sparkled as she took in Emmett with a new found respect.

"I wike Minnie more." She said with her version of an 'I'm sorry shrug'.

Emmett grinned and chuckled. "I'm a Goofy man myself."

Mia then smiled over at the remaining girls in the room. Again, she shot out her hand, fingers wiggling and teeth showing in a happy greeting. "Hewwo." She greeted Rosalie.

Rosalie looked hesitant as the girl wiggled her fingers even more at her silence. The blonde paused again, uncertain, before finally, gently, taking her little fingers into her long pale ones and shaking them delicately. "Hello little one. I'm Rosalie."

"Hi Rosa...Rosawwa..." Her brow scrunched in frustration as she tried to sound out the letters properly. "RRRRooosaaaw..www." I frowned in sympathy. Rosalie looked the same and bent down a little so she was eye level with Mia and her frustrations. "But you can call me Rose. How does that sound?"

Mia still looks upset but nodded. It killed me when she felt self conscious about her language skills. This small barrier was what kept her from being lively and confident all the time. Otherwise she was embarrassed and shy. Not happening. I reached over slowly and wiggled my index finger under her armpit. She scrunched her body up and giggled as expected and then shot me a pout for my efforts. I smiled and shrugged and then gestured over to "Rose". 'Stop frowning and maybe I wouldn't have to do that', my look told her.

Mia gave a cute glare, our eyes speaking to each other as I simply smiled and then turned to the blonde.

Rosalie smiled adoringly and then straightened up.

Mia crossed her arms and held her opposite hands under her underarms tightly, shielding them from me. I grinned quietly at that as she faced Alice.

But instead of thrusting her hand out or grinning, or even lunging for a hug - which she was also known for - she merely looked at Alice, and then tilted her head.

Alice pouted after a moment when Mia didn't seem as eager to greet her as she was with her other siblings. She held her hand out when Mia hadn't and smiled. "Hello Mia. My name's Alice. It's very nice to meet you sweetie."

Mia didn't say anything as her eyes darted all over Alice's face, taking her in.

She tilted her head the other way.

Oh boy.

I coughed lightly and poked Mia's tush with my finger to get her to snap out of it. Which seemed to work because she blinked her eyes furiously and then shook her head a little.

She frowned at herself and then looked up. Alice smiled uneasily. At the sight of her, Mia smiled at her widely like she was seeing the raven haired girl for the first time and thrust out her hand, her fingers wiggling excitedly like before.

My child is weird.

"Hewwo Awwwwice." She greeted. We seriously need to work on her L's. Like pronto. I still have those flashcards ...somewhere. I'll just jot it down in my day planner. "Work on L's for an extended amount of time until Mia gets painfully bored and grumpy and insists on watching a Disney classic." ...sounds like progress to me.

Alice fixed her expression and then smiled and shook Mia's hand gently.

Mia grinned and giggled lightly at the bigger fingers curling gently around hers.

"You're pretty." Mia gushed out of nowhere. I internally face-palmed and I blushed at her bluntness. Oh God.

Emmett laughed loudly at Mia's innocent smile and Alice's shocked expression, which she schooled quickly enough and put on a soft smile.

"Oh we'll thank you. That's very sweet of you. But I wish I was as cute as you. You're much more-"

"Do you think my Mommy's pretty?" Mia cut her off abruptly. Alice's voice caught in her throat as she choked on her previous words.

Oh crap.

Alice tore her stunned eyes away from Mia and watched carefully for my reaction. Her eyes blazed as the answer to Mia's question dangled from her tongue. I almost wanted her to answer. Why? I had no freaking idea but God help me I needed a response. It was mind numbing how desperate I was for it. Okay this is just - no! She's a girl for Pete's sake!

Panicking, I grabbed Mia around the middle and hauled her back - not without a startled little yelp from her - into my lap where I could squeeze and cuddle her into submission. "Aren't you just a gal full of confidence today? Asking _all sorts _of embarrassing questions. Aren't you just the cutest?" I gushed in an adoring voice as I tickled her. She growled and squirmed as I did my best to distract her.

_Be distracted already!_

"I'm not a gaw. I'm a gir."

I rolled my eyes at her innocent corrections and squeezed her tighter.

"You're right. Only old people say gal."

"But you are owd." She pointed out, sticking her index finger in the air to prove her point.

I laughed sarcastically...and smushed her mouth closed with my fingers. "Shh. That's enough out of you."

She mumbled something around her closed lips, unintelligible syllables eeking out, index finger curling up and down as if saying hi to the other four people in the room as I held her down and kept her mute. The four in question smiled at Mia and curled their fingers in hello.

Whoo my face is hot! Is the heat on to "boiling" or is my face really that red?

"Um so yes this is my child. My loud, adorable, but most times really nosy child. Feel free to ignore anything she says." Way to change subjects so smoothly and not at all abruptly, Bella. Mia grunted and mumbled her displeasure at the suggestion. Ignoring her was never an option. She makes certain of it.

Just as Alice had opened her mouth - her phone rang. It sounded like bells I think.

She pursed her lips tightly and pressed the phone to her ear.

She excused herself to the other corner of the room, the one furthest from the rest of us and began a hushed conversation.

For the next few minutes Emmett began making ridiculous faces at Mia to make her giggle. It worked because she was practically hysterical.

I smiled softly. All that laughing and smiling had made my head worse if possible. So a subdued approach to amusement was the best option currently.

Alice walked back over to us, her phone slid to her collar bone. "Carlisle is on his way here. He wants to know how your head is doing." She said to me.

I covered Mia's ears tightly and smiled a little too wide once she asked. "Oh it hurts like a son of a bitch. Can I please have some relief? Pretty please?"

She brings the phone up to her ear again, her expression slightly guilty. "She wants to know about pain meds…" She frowned. Great. That can't be good. She shakes her head grimly. "He says to hold off until he can get there. Just to be on the safe side. He'll be here any min—"

The doorbell rang.

Alice smiled happily and I smiled a little too. "Now."

She nearly danced out of the room and was back a moment later with a tall blonde.

"Hello Mr Cullen." I greeted politely.

"Hello again Bella. I hear you aren't feeling 100%."

"My head's more like 2." I said jokingly, though you could tell my smile was weak. Thin at best, and judging by the looks on all their faces they did as well.

"Well that can't be good."

"Not really."

He motions to the rocking chair at the corner of the room. "May I?" I nod and he picks it up carefully and carries it with him to my bedside.

Mia just stares at him as he gets himself situated in the chair while the other four quietly leave the room.

"Are you a doctor?" She asks, pointing to the light blue stethoscope around his neck. A little fuzzy lion was clipped around the stem if you can believe it. Mia was immediately fascinated.

He smiles at her. "Yes I am."

"You're pretty. Are you sure you're a doctor?" She asks, her tone hinting disbelief. She tilts her head to the side as she looked at him blankly. The same way she had looked at Alice earlier.

My eyes widened in horror. Oh my God! Why would you ask that? My face turns a lovely shade of magenta and I frown disapprovingly at Mia.

"Mee. That's very rude."

"Its quite alright Bella." He leans down and looks at Mia softly. "I am most _positive_ I'm a real doctor." His expressions were over emphasized as he regarded the three year old in my lap. His tone serious but still light and honest. His clear goal was that she would fully understand. He didn't really need to do that with Mia of all kids but I wasn't going to say that. The mere fact that she questioned him shows what I know. "I take care of _lots_ of people every day that aren't feeling well. Like Bella here. She's not feeling very well is she?" Mia shook her head sadly. Carlisle frowned in sympathy as he shook his head in turn. "So I'm here because I want Bella to get better."

_Please drop it. Please drop it. Please drop it._

"You not gunna hurt her right?" She asks almost sternly.

My face is now purple.

Carlisle looks curiously at her for a moment. Mia just stared. He seemed to come to some sort of understanding of the situation, though vaguely, and nodded firmly. "I promise." He said.

"Pinky promise!" She thrusts out her pinky and I almost have the urge to pull it back and send her to her room but she seems so damn serious when she talks to him. That intelligent glint there again. I back down reluctantly and just continue to hold her.

His eyebrow lifts upward but he does as childishly instructed and curls his pale finger around hers.

"Pinky promise." He nods.

She seems to deem the promise acceptable and folds her arms across her chest as she watches the good doctor reach for something in his bag on the floor by the rocking chair. Her eyes light up when he pulls out a red sucker.

Please tell me that's sugar free. Because right now I just can't hang.

He sees my expression and smiles. "Don't worry. Its sugar free."

Oh thank God.

I sigh in relief and nod carefully. "Good." I wait a moment after Mia had ripped the wrapper apart and shoved the sugar free treat in her mouth. I wait a few seconds more and then nudge her. "What do you say?"

She pulls the sucker out with a wet pop and grins. "Thank yooouuu!" She pops it back in and goes to town.

I roll my eyes.

Carlisle chuckles and pulls other things out of his bag. I scoot Mia down between my knees so Carlisle can check my blood pressure with the little wrappy pumpy thing and then he looks at his watch as he checks my pulse. He does a various assortment of basic test with all his little doodads. Shining lights here and there. Checking my response to stimuli or something. I tuned most of his explanations out when I asked him.

"So how am I doing Doc?"

"Fine." He gives a little sigh as he pockets his penlight in his shirt pocket. "For the most part everything appears normal so far."

So far.

He begins placing everything back in his bag except his stethoscope seeing as Mia began playing with it while he had left it unattended on my bed. Oops.

She leant over to me and placed the metal knob over my chest as she listened, the knob jumping from my collar bone to my boob to the valley between them.

"Bump bump bump bumpity bumpy bump…" She giggled and pressed the knob to her own chest, repeating her earlier murmurings in amusement and then singing it aloud as she bobbed her head lightly. Seems she made another song. Yay.

"Since we ruled diabetes and other ailments off the table I think its time to talk a little and figure out what might have caused your collapse."

"Talk?" One of my least favorite words when it comes to doctors...and people in general.

He nods, giving me a gentle look.

"I'm merely going to ask you a few questions. Nothing invasive. Just preliminary."

I chewed on my lip. "Kay."

He smiles kindly. "How have you been sleeping?"

"What's that?" I chuckled weakly. And yes, I'm fully aware that I'm trying to crack a joke at the most inappropriate moment. I can't help it. I just don't really want to answer. Because the truth is I don't sleep. Haven't since…him. I'm rarely able to catch a wink without the aid of over-the-counter cold medicine when I'm sick. So sue me for being nervous and avoid-y.

He frowns at my response and gently picks my wrist up from the bed and turns it over, feeling for my pulse again. This time I notice vaguely that I don't flinch away from his cool touch. It actually felt nice. All these damn blankets I have stacked on top of me were making me overheat. Gross. Plus the little warm monster sitting on top of me checking the apparent pulse in my forehead doesn't help either.

"I mean no." I breathe out tiredly. "No, very little."

"Has this been happening a lot?"

"A couple weeks." I lie. "It's been fewer and fewer hours a night, but now I'm lucky if I get a full three or four."

I don't tell him that it's been almost four years since I've had a descent night's sleep. That would only raise more questions. And ideally even more concerns than I'm ready to deal with.

He nods as if checking off a mental check list and moves on to the next question.

He goes over a pretty tame list of questions. Some I dodge with vague answers and most I answer honestly.

"Now I have to ask something a bit more personal." He says gently, his eyes soft and reassuring.

I nod for him to go on. How much more personal can you get? You're already in my house, in my room. Feeding my child candy.

"Are you on any medication right now?" He asks.

Oh. That personal.

"Um just my anxiety meds and uh...my vitamins." I think. Wait. No. I haven't been very good about taking them. I can't remember the last time I took my vitamins on time or at all since we got here. Damn it. I hope I haven't screwed myself over because of that.

His brow arches curiously. "Vitamins?"

"Um some herbal supplements my mother buys for me. It's supposed to help with my heart."

His brow furrows. "Have you had any problems with it before?"

I shrug. "When I was a kid. Mom said it used to be really bad. That when she found the herb it made everything better." I shrug again. "I just believed her. I haven't had any problems so far so I figured it was working."

It sounds stupid as I say it out loud but that's really what happened. I don't really remember much when I was a kid but I know my mother said I was sick a lot.

He nods, pursing his lips as he thinks over what I said. "May I see the herb?"

"No."

"No?"

I shake my head. My mother was very clear a long time ago about letting others see the herb. I kind of accepted it. Even though now refusing him seems silly and keeping it from a medical professional looks suspicious. If it'll help me why shouldn't I let him see it? Well because I promised my mother I wouldn't. I'm already breaching that promise by talking about it.

"I'd rather not," He goes to protest but I cut him off. "Listen. I really appreciate you coming by and checking up on me but it's not the herb. I have been lax about my meds since I got here and have been getting little to no sleep at all recently. All that mixed with being stressed to the max over my own paranoia with your son probably just took its toll on me. I'm fine. I think all I need is rest and plenty of chicken noodle soup because Cambels guarantees comfort, and then I should be alright. I'm sorry to dismiss you like this. I know you're just trying to help but-" Carlisle raises his hand, halting my word vomit, smiling in that gentle way I've come to expect from him.

"It's alright Bella. I'm not upset. Maybe you're right about all that. If you're sure about me not seeing the herb than all I can recommend is taking it easy for a little while. I'll even sign a slip for you to stay home from school so you can catch up on sleep. Just don't tell anyone else at school that I did that or I'll be seeing flocks of teenagers with mysterious and unexplainable fainting spells for the forcible future, alright?"

I smile gratefully. "Thank you Dr. Cullen."

He nods, giving me a beautiful smile of his own. Is it weird that I think of his smile as beautiful and not handsome?

Eh. It's a compliment. Take it however you want.

"However," He begins, earning my attention again. "I am a little concerned with your sleep schedule. Have you tried any over the counter sleep aides?"

I shook my head in the negative. Never needed to. And honestly, I never trusted the stuff. Last time I took what I _thought_ was over the counter flu medicine that my ..._he_ got for me, I ended up alone, bleeding in an alleyway with no memory of the last 17 hours. I clenched my jaw and beat the sick memory into submission, shoving it to the back of my mind and dead bolting the lock.

He pulled out a small pad of paper and began scribbling something down. Is he shrinking me now? Isn't that what shrinks do? Write meaningless jargon down? Whats he writing... I ignore that train of thought as he rips the piece of paper and hands it to me. "These are over the counter sleep aides that I would recommend using if you do decide to go that route. Some are more potent than others, so I caution you. It usually depends on the person however."

My eyes scan the various names and recommended dosages for each. "Um... thanks." Not like I'm actually gonna use this shit ...but thanks anyway.

He pushes himself up fluidly and goes to put the chair back where he found it.

"Oh and Dr Cullen?"

He turns around. "Yes?"

"Please tell me I can get some freaking Advil? Your kids won't let me." God I'm practically whining my displeasure. I know I'm pouting pitifully at least. Something tells me I'm going to hate myself for acting this way later but right now I'm just blaming all my mood swings on the headache.

He chuckles. "They just worry about you. Yes you may use pain relievers but only every 4-6 hours. How's that work out for you?"

I sigh in relief. "Perfect." I grin.

"Let me know if the headaches persist."

"I will. Thank you."

He packs his bag and lays three different colored suckers on my nightstand. Ooh purple!

He smiles at my reaction and looks over at Mia who is shuffling away from me. I think he wants his stuff back.

"Your turn!" She crawls over to Carlisle and he looks startled as she begins placing knob on his chest.

"May I have that little one?" He says quickly.

She shakes her head and picks up the knob to place it directly over where his heart should be…

"_Mia_. Give it back." I commanded.

She huffed and then pouted. She thrusts her arm out to Carlisle as she glares at her criss-crossed lap, handing him his equipment.

He smiles in relief and takes it from her. "Thank you Mia for taking such good care of it." He says placing it in his bag.

"You're welcome." She murmured.

God. She's going to be obsessing over that thing all night.

Yay.

He bids me farewell and tell me to give either one of his kids a call if there is a problem. I thank him and settle more against my pillow.

Soon each of the four Cullen children come up and wish well. Alice and Emmett linger longer. Emmett, surprisingly kisses my forhead on the way out and tells me suck it up and get better so he can introduce me to Mass Effect. Whatever the fuck that means.

Alice is the last one left and Mia smiles at her from her place on the bed. Alice smiles softly in turn and shuffles forehead.

"I hope you feel better Bella. Call me or um well you can call me if you need anything okay?"

I smile at her. I don't know why but I find her awkwardness cute. Though its weird. She doesn't seem the type to be this anxious.

"Okay."

She smiles brightly. "Okay. I…I better go so they won't leave without me."

I smile at her as she gestures to the door. Though her backward steps are slow as she makes her way there.

"Can you text?" She asks.

"I can."

"Good. I'll um…I'll text you. I mean if that's alright."

I chuckle at her cute demeanor and nod. "Its fine."

"Great! I mean…great." Her last word was so subdued and overly casual I chuckled.

"I'm going to go now." She pauses at the door.

"Okay. Thanks for your help Alice. I really appreciate all you guys did for me and Mee."

She smiles and nods. "Of course. Have a good night Bella."

"You too Alice." And then she's gone.

Mia bolts from the bed and runs to the window. I scold her for running but she doesn't listen since she was already by the window when I hollered. Kid's quick. I lean over and rummage through my nightstand drawer and fish for my beloved Advil bottle. I pop a few capsules and swallow them dry. A relieved sigh leaves my lips as I lay my head down carefully. I roll my head to the side. Mia's still watching out the window like an adorable peeper.

She watches for a moment. But the sound of a car leaving my driveway is all I hear. Mia jumps back on the bed and then situates herself in my lap again. I smile and run my fingers through her hair as she curls against my side. Its quiet for a good long time and I almost cry in absolute relief when the throbbing begins to subside. I'm nearly asleep when Mia taps my collar bone, requesting my attention.

"Mommy?"

"Hmm baby?"

"Is doctor Cuwwen dead?"

…

Wait what?

* * *

><p><strong>Ooh. Mia is so smerrt. Shame that that's <em>totally<em> gunna freak Bella out…**

**Oh and just for clarification Mia's middle name is Elise. We really need to do something about them darn L's, don't we? :/**

**Okay lovely people! Let me know what you thought please. So what exactly was with Mia's reaction to Alice you think? What was with Mia and Carlisle? Hmm...*strokes chin beard***

**- Lil' Miss**


	11. Only Human

**I know I've been away for longer than is acceptable but Life is a bitch. And I had shit to do. I'm sure you don't want to hear all about said shit so I will spare you the gory details. Lucky you.**

**Also, for those of you that might notice, the original chapter 11 was taken down due to the fact that it sucked and I didn't like how Bella sounded over all. So down it went.**

**Thanks so much for all the love guys. Every word and alert means a lot. And they defiantly motivated me to start updating again so I thank you. **

**Some very subtle Bellice in this chapter. It's pretty much "blink and you might miss it!" But thankfully that should change here pretty soon.**

**I'm not too thrilled with how the entirety of this chapter turned out but you all have been waiting for so long for an update, I figured to hell with it. Its been awhile since I've written for this story so I hope you bare with me as I get back into the swing of things. So, without further ado..**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>I'm bored.<p>

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that I _actually_ have time all by my lonesome.

And that is just...sad. So very sad.

I sigh. It's been awhile since I've ever had time for myself, over three years in fact. I forgot what it was like having nothing to do or responsibilities to worry about.

I was in desperate need of some form of entertainment. I've already read through the few comics Emmett had loaned me last week. Though I wonder if it's still a loan if we're barely on speaking terms. I don't plan on handing them back any time soon. Not if it means talking with him directly.

I sighed, palming my face in frustration. Being pissed at someone was draining. I knew this all too well. But being pissed at someone you didn't want to be pissed at was nothing short of exhausting.

I mean, they had helped me yesterday. They definitely didn't have to. But they did...

I grunted as I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. Ugh. And now my headache is back. It usually starts with the eyes and is followed by the pounding.

Welp, I better think of something before I waste all my time trying to think of things to do. I shake my head and decide to get up finally.

I walked over to where my phone was charging before I got dressed and check the screen. There were a few messages actually. Two from Charlie asking if I was okay and if I needed anything and seven from my mom wondering why I hadn't bothered to call her and if I even remembered her number anymore.

That forced me to roll my eyes.

And the last one surprised me.

**- ALICE -**

Huh. Wasn't expecting that one.

Well, she did ask if she could text me yesterday. And look, she did. My finger hovered over the name, stalling. Huffing at myself I shrug off my weird hesitancy and press down on the screen.

_Good morning. -Alice_

That's it. A simple greeting. No flashy emoticons. No not-so-subtle segues into how I was feeling or investigations into what had really happened yesterday.

I don't reply.

Instead, I answer Charlie and reassure my mother that she was not forgotten and that I would call her today.

My phone blew up with happy emoticons a minute later.

I rolled my eyes. Only my mother.

So per the Doc's orders I have done nothing but stay in bed. I probably looked dead with my left arm dangling over the side as I laid on my stomach, barely breathing and not caring in the least. I haven't slept that good in...well not for a while. Charlie had agreed to take Mia to daycare and pick her up when I would do so normally. I assured him at dinner when he had offered that he didn't have to do that. She could just stay with me all day but he thought it would do me some good to have some worry free sleep. I didn't even have to wake her up and get her ready since I had set out her clothes for the day and her berets. Usually her hair is up in a cute curly ponytail or piggy tails or maybe braided but since Charlie was a dude and his version of grooming was trimming a well tended mustache, I figured I'd cut him some slack with her hair and gave him simple written instructions for getting Mia ready in the morning. Such as:

_"Tip # 4: Just leave her hair down and comb it. DO NOT FORGET THE BERET. I SHIT YOU NOT SHE WILL REMIND YOU OF YOUR MISTAKE BY BEING A DEMON SPAWN FOR THE REST OF THE MORNING BUT WON'T BOTHER TELLING YOU WHAT YOU DID WRONG. RENE HAS TAUGHT HER VERY WELL. SO I CAUTION YOU."_

Yeah. He'll be fine.

Now, there will be no judgment. I'm not a pill popper or anything. And I don't usually resort to pills to get the job done but this time I was determined to get some restful sleep last night.

But it wasn't until I finally woke up around 1 in the afternoon that I realized I had been coasting on the edge of death for a long while. My body wasn't used to getting this much sleep so I still felt a little sluggish. Or maybe that's the sleep aides I took. Whichever. It doesn't really matter now does it. I think I'll even treat myself to a nice warm bath.

I spent a good 45 minutes scrubbing, shaving, draining and refilling the tub and finally soaking. It was heavenly. Or the closest thing to heaven.

I could hear ringing going off in the other room informing me of a phone call that I would not be able to reach in time to answer. Basking in the slowly cooling water for a few more minutes, I sigh softly. Eventually I get out, and with a towel wrapped around my wet body, I pad back into my room.

My notifications alert me that I indeed missed a call.

**- MOM -**

Okay so she wasn't in the mood to wait for me to call her.

I get dressed quickly in a t-shirt and cotton shorts so I could get back to my phone.

Figuring that I couldn't avoid the woman forever, I press call and wait against the dial tone. I hear a beep as I waited for my mother to answer, knowing from the sound it was another text message.

I managed to send a quick reply before I felt the phone pick up on the other end.

"Hey Bumble B! I haven't heard from you in a while. What's shakin' bacon? God how old are you now? Has Mia hit puberty yet?"

"Mom it's been only a week." I said, my brow arching.

"I know! That's practically a year in mom years. Only a week and already I'm terribly homesick. Come on. Humor your lonely dear mother. You're suffering right?" She asks hopefully.

"Aw mom. You're breaking my heart here." I smiled at my mother. I missed her a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

"Good. I can't be the only one."

"I miss you too Ma." I said dryly.

"Oh I miss you too honey. So! Tell me. Is your bacon really shaking? Anything going on?"

"Ya know...just stuff." I shrug for effect. And grin as I hear the irritated whine in her voice. It was a well known fact that my mother needed gossip to live. "Life is all in the details," she would say. I think she got that off a bumper sticker...or some guys shirt. Either way she always said it as an excuse to pry. That and to remind me how many hours she spent in labor.

That one never gets old.

"Oh come on. I leave you alone with your father and you report back with no dirt? I'm so very disappointed in you." She tutted and my smile lacked any humor as I thought of the week I've had. Oh I had dirt. Though if I told you my feelings on all of it you'd fly us back to Phoenix and there is no way in hell I'm going back.

"There is...something." I nervously hedge out. I can already imagine her cradling the little device closer to her ear with both hands as she waits.

"I'm listenin' Bumble."

I've been thinking about this for a while. I had imagined myself at some point finding a plausible answer to explain all of this weird crap that's been happening in my life. But so far I've managed bupkis.

My life has been a big ball of confusion for the past three and something years. Even before Mia, weird shit had been happening. I don't even know where to begin retelling that stuff. It freaks me out even thinking about it.

But Mia...

Sometimes I wonder about her. I hope with all my soul that I'm just being paranoid but I know something isn't right. Something isn't quite normal. Its only a feeling. But I know in my gut that denying what I feel isn't going to make this go away and its certainly not going to make this easier to deal with. Whatever ..._this_ may be.

I sound like a crazy person. People would just call her quirky. Or unique. Or any other adjective they can throw at me. But I'm not buying it. I mean, it's just sometimes there are moments when she's past the point of being quirky and stepping into a place all her own.

But then I also wonder... is it just me? I have no idea what I'm even suggesting. At this point its all just gut instinct. And the few stupid times that I've ever ignored my gut instinct have always left me in a bad way some how.

"Well its about Mia -but before you go all concerned psycho grandma on me...I wanna ask you something first."

"Anything baby." Her tone is soft and I know she means it. She'll divulge anything. I smiled at her.

"When I was little...did I ever...I mean, was I always..." I sighed.

How do I word this and not sound mental?

"Were you always ...adorable? Yes. So much it should have been illegal. All of our snobby neighbors were jealous. Oh, I was so proud!" She fakes a sniffle. And I laugh softly on the other end.

"No thats not it but...that would explain some things. Um what I meant to say was...did anything...ever happen...when I was little?"

It went silent and the lack of a response stretches on for what seems like forever and a day. I lift the phone away from my ear to check the screen. Did she hang up on me or something?

"What do you mean?" Her tone sounds... a little weird as she voices her words carefully.

"I mean weird stuff." I feel really stupid now that I'm saying that out loud. "Stuff that didn't ...really make any sense?" I say carefully, my grip on the phone tightening.

There was silence again...and then a loud but muffled curse in the background.

"Mom?"

"Yeah. M'here." She sighed. "What kind of stuff?" She asked evenly, her tone taking on an edge I have never heard from her before.

"Anything weird mom? Just anything not normal?" Please don't make me rephrase that a different way. I already feel like a fool for asking.

"Where is this coming from?"

I sighed as I palmed the side of my face. "I don't know. I sound crazy, don't I?"

"No baby girl you don't sound crazy. I'm just not sure what to tell you." She thinks I'm nuts. Of course she's unsure of what to say. Whatever I may have been suggesting or whatever I was goading my mother into admitting sounds completely odd. I'm not even sure what I wanted to hear exactly.

"Never mind. Forget I said anything."

There's an exhalation and a mumble of dying syllables, like she was about to say something but changed her mind. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you Bella."

I shrug. "It's cool."

There's a long pause. A tense pause. I feel like there's so much that should be said but instead all I hear on the other line is, "You're doing great B. Mia is lucky to have you. Always remember that."

"Even when I screw up?"

"Especially when you screw up. You're only...human, Bella." I frowned at the strange inflection in her voice but had nothing to go on so I let it go.

"Yeah. I guess..." I don't want to talk about this anymore. "How's Phil?"

"Fine. How's your head?"

"Fine. I just took a couple-wait. How'd you know my head was hurting?"

"...mothers intuition." She says mysteriously. I gave the phone an odd look. "Next time it happens, don't fight it, okay? Just think of a happy centered thought and coast it out. Trust me. Oh and lavender tea helps nicely. Might help you sleep better also."

"But why-"

"Am I telling you this? Why do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? Why am I telling you this when you had just had a collapse the day before when you hadn't mentioned it to me yet because you didn't want to worry me?"

My brow twitched in suspicion. "Uh yeah. All that stuff." I gestured.

She hummed and I could hear the small smile in her voice as she said, "Charlie told me."

I let out a breath. Well duh. "Oh. Of course he did." I chuckled. "You freaked me out for a second."

She hummed again. "I'm good at that."

"Yup. Haven't lost your touch I see."

"Never."

I smile.

"Now," She starts. "how's my beautiful granddaughter doing? Missing her Nana no doubt."

I rolled my eyes as I thought of the two. "God every other thing she does or reacts to reminds me of you." I groan. "You do realize you've ruined my child?"

"I admit nothing but excellence." She tones proudly.

"Of course you'd think that was a compliment."

"Wasn't it?"

I smiled at my twisting fingers as they toyed with the loose strings on the quilt. "I miss you Mom." I said softly.

"I know love. Me too. I miss you both."

"Mia's been dying to talk to you. She really misses her Nana."

"Her Nana misses her." My eyes burned with oncoming tears and I wiped them roughly.

"I'm so sorry we had to leave you like that."

"Oh honey. Don't you dare apologize. I know why you had to and I don't ever blame you for leaving. And we haven't lost each other or left each other. Not really. I'll always be a celly call away," I let out a watery chuckle. "And you can always talk to me whenever you need _anything_. Promise me that you'll call if anything happens. Whether it be crazy, unexplainable, or just plain weird. Or even all of the above. We'll get through it together. Okay?"

I sniffed and nodded. "Okay. I promise."

"Good. Now about this dirt I've been craving..."

We talked for an hour after that. Just going back and forth on what's been going on. We babbled about meaningless stuff and bickered back and forth. It was almost like I had never left. We were in the middle of ranting about a rerun of a show we both liked when my cell pinged that I had a text message.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the newly lit up screen.

**- ALICE -**

At first I hadn't answered Alice when she began texting me today. Honestly not knowing what to say. Luckily for me and my social awkwardness they were simple sentences, most of them were pretty funny in this dry witty way I've learned to associate with her, and just mentions of what had happened in class. She never inquires of anything or seems to expect anything more than silence. And it's all I gave her, that and short answers when a brief moment of inspiration to respond struck swiftly after her third text.

I pursed my lips as I heard the muffled murmuring of my mother rambling about a Xena episode she had seen. My mother: ever the feminist.

I switched my phone to speaker and went into my inbox.

"Oh I hear clicking. What's going on?"

"Nothing Mom. Just opening a text message." I said.

"Oh! Who from?" She asked curiously.

_I hope you are feeling better today Bella. 4th isn't the same without you._ _-Alice_

"Nobody you know." I smirked.

"Oh well that's no fun. Tell me! You never tell me anything."

I ignored my mother's whining and told Alice I was fine.

_Who knew vegging all day could be so healing? -B_

"Are you seriously pulling the 'you don't tell me anything' card?" I scoffed.

"That depends. Is it working?"

I chuckled. "No." I switched the speaker off and held the phone normally.

"Dang it! Well as your mother I order you to tell me who you're texting this instant!" I pulled the phone away from my ear as she wailed, smiling widely at my mother's shrieking.

"Nope. Consider this me flashing my 'I'm over 18 so I legally don't have to listen to you' card." I said giggling.

"Well as your mother I revoke your membership! Don't make me take away your free will little lady."

I rolled my eyes as I grinned. "I swear you're a bigger spaz than I am."

"Who do you think you learned it from. But really it's all part of being a crazy mother. You'll get this bat shit nutty eventually. And knowing my beautiful granddaughter you'll probably get there sooner than I did."

"Hey! That's not-...okay that's probably really accurate." I mumbled.

She laughs on the other end. "Admit it sweet heart. You're already halfway there."

I rub my forehead tiredly. "I swear normal people would have hung up by now."

"Oh Bumble, trust me, you've never been normal." She laughs. "That's what I love about you."

I sighed and plopped backwards in bed.

_Ping!_

I switch to speaker and open the text message. I laugh at her witty response and type back a reply. Of course all this mystery seems to irk my mother even more.

"Still at it huh? I don't see why you won't just tell me who you're talking to. Am I that horrible to converse with that you have to find other people to chat with while I'm complaining."

"Aw Ma. You don't need my help complaining." I joke.

"I swear you just love torturing me. You know how much I hate suspense!"

"Oh I'm well aware." I said with a smirk.

"You're not allowed to change the subject."

"But I'm so good at it." I said with a smirk as I texted with my phone held in the air.

"Are you sure I don't know this person?"

"Positive." I smiled softly at another text from Alice and punched in a reply quickly. Mother was getting antsy.

"Oh so it's a sexy friend?" She says in a suggestive teasing manner.

I almost gag at her tone.

"I'm hanging up now."

"Oh no you don't. I'm only messing with you Bella. My word. Sometimes you can be so uptight."

"I'm uptight." I declare monotone. "Gee, thanks Ma."

"Someone had to tell you sooner or later."

"I would have preferred later."

"Yeah but by that point your butt crack would have been nonexistent. So if you think about it, I did you a favor."

"That's so gross. I can't believe you just said that." I chuckle.

"It's so true though."

I smacked my face. This conversation is in desperate need of a subject change. Like now. "Ugh. Have you sent my stuff yet?"

"...which stuff was it again?" I smacked my forehead.

"The box marked B & M's stuff. Mia colored the damn thing so you'd remember that it was her stuff too. Sounding familiar?"

"Oh _that_ box." She chuckles. "Oh honey, I sent that days ago."

"Thank God. I'm tired of washing the same two pairs of pants."

"That's why normal people go _shopping_." She jested.

"You know I hate shopping." I grumbled.

"Yes well I imagine you'll hate being naked even more so I'd do it this weekend if you can manage it. Honey you're not pregnant anymore and you're the most beautiful brown eyed 18 year old girl I know. You shouldn't be so adverse to the thought of going to a mall."

"Gee thanks. Cause that narrows it down like a ton. How many 18 year olds do you know exactly?"

"I know _plenty_. Just the other day I was talking to a nice young man around your age who wanted me to buy him liquor."

I rub my temples. "That doesn't make him your friend Ma. That makes you a danger to stupid teenagers everywhere."

"Oh pah! Now as I was saying. You have nothing to be self-conscious about. You look lovely in anything ... except pastels. Consult me if you even THINK about wearing anything pastel."

"Will do." I mock salute her.

"Anyways with Washington's disgusting weather barraging down on your sensitive skin, shopping should be a priority even after you get your stuff back. Actually you should do it before then. Tomorrow. Do it then."

"I have school tomorrow."

"Then do it after."

"I have no one to watch Mia."

"I'm sure Charlie will be more than happy to watch his granddaughter while you go look for some new clothes."

"Yeah until she punches him in the 'stache." I roll my eyes.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'll just do it this weekend."

"Why don't you bring a friend with you? Make it fun!"

"I don't have friends like that yet." Well, I did. But I doubt I could have conned even Emmett to go with me.

"What about the mystery person that you _refuse_ to tell me about?"

"Don't know her well enough either."

"That's why they say communication is key. Ask her. Bring her with you and get to know her."

"Why are you pushing this so hard?"

I hear a long sigh on the other end of the line.

"Oh I don't know maybe because I want you to be happy, make friends, be a normal giggly teenager. And if you can't manage giggly, fake it to make it. That's what I do on most of my dates."

"Whoa! Who said anything about a date?!" She does realize we're talking about a girl right?

"Oh did I say date? Silly me." She giggles.

"Okay that's it. I'm well over my dose of crazy from you. This conversation is ov-"

A door swooshes open, shaking the house slightly caused by the suction of the heavy wind outside. "Hey Bells we're home!"

"Moooommyyyyyy!" Mia hollered at the top of her lungs. I hoisted myself out of bed and padded down the stairs.

"Is that my little Mia I hear? Oh let me talk to her! I've been deprived for eight long excruciating days!"

I sigh. "Okay hold on a sec." I crouch down and watch as Mia hangs up her coat on the lower hook, her back to me. "Hey Mia." I call. The girl turns around at the sound of my voice and grins as she runs full speed into my arms, effectively knocking me over with an, "Oof!" and insuring the phone to no longer be in my grasp anymore.

"I missed you too." I laughed.

She showers my face in butterfly kisses. I push her up and lean over to retrieve the phone that was scattered somewhere behind me. I check to see that the call didn't disconnect and then present the phone to Mia. "Someone wants to talk you." I sing song as I wiggled the phone between my thumb and middle finger.

She looks at the device curiously. I hold the phone up to her ear for her and watch as her eyes light up and she bounces in my lap.

"Nana!"

I grin widely.

I love how easy it is to make her smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty folks now we can really move things along. Mostly my main goal was to get you acquainted with the main players first before we moved forward and since that's mostly been established - with the exception of an obvious and not so obvious few - we can carry on to the juicy bits of the story. And also have some fun along the way. <strong>

**So what's your take on Renee? Think she knows something? Is it really only Mia whose driven Bella to the point of bat shit nutty? *point point: Renee* lol. Share your thoughts and I'll get back to you with the next chapter. **

**- Lil' Miss**


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